The Society of Saint Edmund was founded, as were many religious congregations in early nineteenth century France, to stem the tide of an almost nationwide secularization which had developed as a result of Gallicanism, Jansenism, Voltairianism, and Republicanism. The laity was almost totally alienated from the Church. In the last analysis neither clergy nor laity knew to whom they owed allegiance, and the Catholic Church in France lay in shambles.

In order to bring the message of the Gospel to the people of the Yonne, an area which had been particularly secularized, Father Muard pleaded with his Ordinary, Archbishop Cosnac, to give him the ruined abbey of Pontigny from which a missionary band might go about re-evangelizing the region. (The Pontigny abbey had become the final resting place of Saint Edmund of Canterbury in 1240.) The plea was heard, and Father Muard along with Father Bravard moved into the abbey in July 1843.

Several other diocesan priests joined them very quickly, and the small mission band became known as "auxiliary priests," since they, like similar groups in other dioceses, conducted parish missions throughout the archdiocese of Sens to revitalize the faith of the people who had become alienated from the Church. They took as their patron Saint Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury.
 

On 29 September 1852, the auxiliary priests became constitutionally known as the "Society of the Fathers and the Brothers of Saint Edmund, Oblates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary." (The Chapter of 1970 adopted the title, "Society of Saint Edmund", in the interest of simplicity and as a result of custom.)

Ardent and powerful preachers, these domestic missionaries rekindled the faith of rural French missions in village after village. Christian life again flourished. Their ministry extended to western France, where in 1867 they re-established historic Mont Saint-Michel as a place of pilgrimage, just as they had for the Abbey in Pontigny and the tomb of Saint Edmund.

The success of an apostolate in the second diocese, Coutances, led Father Boyer to seek pontifical status for the community. His request of Pius IX in the spring of 1876 was granted provisionally in the Decretum Laudis of 12 August of the same year.

Meanwhile, the apostolate at Mont Saint-Michel had proved so worthwhile that an apostolic school was opened there in October 1876. It, too, was such a success that in 1879 the group was asked to go to a third diocese, Laval, in order to take over the Collège de l’Immaculée Conception. Two other important educational endeavors were to spring from these foundations: Collège Saint-Michel in Château-Gontier (1893) and the Ecole Saint-Edme in Sens (1895). The educational apostolate not only offered young men a Catholic education in an ever-increasingly secularized France, but also provided the Society with its largest source of vocations.

As Church and State struggled, sometimes violently, in the closing years of the 19th century, it was decided in the Chapter of 1891 that a new apostolate should be undertaken in North America free from such strife. The French-speaking Province of Québec was the logical choice. The first years of the 20th century (1901-1905) saw the Third Republic deal its final blow to any religious group not sanctioned by the French government, and the members of the Society of Saint Edmund were victims. Dispersed, they lost everything they had on French soil.

Some members chose secularization, others went to Switzerland (1901) or England (1902), and some chose the American foundation. This division of members, in terms of mission and geography, led to a disunity which plagued the group for years. The situation became such that only the American group's future could be assured. Still, the members remaining in Europe would not accept the state of affairs in France and battled for their lost rights for many years. This struggle led to a cleavage between the European and American foundations which almost saw the Society dissolve in the 1920s.

Upon arrival in Montréal two members of the Society were advised to contact Bishop Louis de Goesbriand, the Bishop of Burlington, who was seeking French-speaking clergy for the people of northern Vermont. The meeting was fortuitous, because the Society was able to establish itself in Vermont, at Keeler's Bay (1891) and Swanton (1895).

Within a decade, the Edmundites had proven themselves a valuable resource to the Bishop of Burlington. Their charism and expertise in education let them serve Bishop Michaud’s effort to open a Catholic college in the diocese. In 1902, the congregation purchased the Kelly farm in Winooski Park, Vermont. On the feast of Saint Michael, September 29, 1904, Bishop Michaud dedicated the expanded farmhouse as the first building of Saint Michael’s College. The class comprised 35 students, ranging from grammar school up, who studied classical and commercial courses taught in French and English. In 1913 Saint Michael’s College was civilly incorporated and empowered to grant college degrees, becoming Vermont’s first Catholic college with this authority. Today it is the mission of Saint Michael’s College to contribute through higher education to the enhancement of the human person and the development of human culture in the light of the Catholic faith.

In the spirit of the Society and in response to the call of the Church, Fathers Casey and Paro went to Selma, Alabama, in the summer of 1937 and initiated an apostolate among African Americans by going to where the need was greatest. There began the Edmundite Southern Missions that led to other needy areas of Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Louisiana.

An important part of the Society’s mission has been to embrace the culture and heritage of the African American community and to affirm a special emphasis on social justice and the preferential option for the poor. By working toward systemic change, Edmundites have become advocates for change. By choosing to be in solidarity with African Americans as they seek to minister to their own and as they seek to share their gifts of Blackness with the Church at large, Edmundites have helped to advance the rich heritage and legacy of African Americans to the Church. By promoting an understanding of justice through preaching and teaching, Edmundites have sought to bring an end to racism and to bring about reconciliation among people.

Rooted in the gospel, a significant part of the apostolate in the Southern Missions has been the exercise of Christ’s charity toward all the needy with those whom the Society has had contact, regardless of race or religion. Indeed, the first Edmundite Rule directed this endeavor when it said, "Our love must extend to all and in some way embrace all. The needy, the poor, the ignorant … need to experience our love more than others."

In 1954, Alys E. Enders conveyed to the Society of Saint Edmund a 12-acre island near Mystic, Connecticut. Because Mrs. Enders designated her gift as a place of and retreat, Enders Island has provided spiritually enriching programs through what has become known as Saint Edmund’s Retreat. Since art is a powerful tool for evangelization, Saint Michael’s Institute of Sacred Art was launched to complement existing programs at Saint Edmund’s Retreat and to foster a new Renaissance in the arts for the Third Millennium.

When Pope John XXIII asked the religious communities of the United States to dedicate ten percent of their personnel to serve in Latin America, the Society of Saint Edmund responded. Since 1964 Edmundites have served in Caracas in two adjacent parishes: one in a middle-class neighborhood, the other in an impoverished barrio. In Prados del Este, the middle-class area, and in Las Minas, the barrio, local people have worked with the Edmundites to build a vibrant faith community. With the same spirit that brought them together to build a church in the barrio that was completed and dedicated in 1974, both parishes continue to demonstrate active concern for the less fortunate.

In 1994 the Society founded Bishop Perry Middle School in New Orleans. The school was named after the late Bishop Harold Perry, an African American born in Louisiana. This school was established for African American males who are financially less privileged and who do not have access to quality education. The model for Bishop Perry Middle School was Nativity Mission Center in New York, which has become reputable for its remarkable accomplishments in preparing and supporting their students through high school and college.

The goal of Bishop Perry Middle School has been to provide a value-laden, comprehensive educational program for adolescent inner-city African American boys. This school offers a structured environment of strict discipline with a low student-to-teacher ratio during an extended school day – all designed to foster positive values as an alternative to the destructive influence of the streets. The school’s vision is to see that their young students are able to face the challenges of high school and to become aware of their cultural heritage.

The venture of the alternative middle school in New Orleans calls to mind the appeal of Pope John Paul II to institutes involved in education to continue their efforts, seeing education as a particular expression of the preferential option for the poor, as a means for "freeing people from that grave form of poverty which is the lack of cultural and religious training."

The call of Pope John Paul II for a new evangelization to renew the Church and the world for the Third Millennium has become particularly meaningful because the essential mission of the Edmundite Community is evangelization, "manifesting to the people that the Church is for them". The apostolic life of the Society of Saint Edmund proclaims in word and deed the words of the Apostle: "You are strangers and aliens no longer. No, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God."

In June 1998, the Society held its first Assembly General Chapter open to all professed members of the Order. This Assembly Chapter directed the new administration to develop a unified plan for implementing the Church’s preferential option for the poor, and a social and interracial justice ministry in all areas of Edmundite life. The Chapter also directed that the Society evaluate its endeavors in the light of the Constitutions and Directory, and the 1994 Chapter resolution on Evangelization, to ensure that the Society’s efforts reflect an option for the poor, a commitment to social justice, a commitment to common life and prayer, and participation of the people.

To be continued…