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History
of the Congregation of Holy Cross
In
the troubled period following the French Revolution Basil Anthony
Moreau, a priest of the diocese of Le Mans, France, founded the
Congregation of Holy Cross.
In
response to the needs for education and evangelization of the
devastated church throughout the countryside, in 1835 he gathered
a group of Auxiliary Priests. Only days after this group
was assembled, Father Moreau accepted responsibility for the Brothers
of St. Joseph, who had been founded fifteen years earlier by another
priest of the same diocese, James Francis Dujarie, pastor of Ruille-sur-Loir.
The brothers were zealous laymen who had been meeting the need
for elementary education in villages of the region. Father Moreau
eventually decided to unite these two groups, which he did with
the Fundamental Act of March 1, 1837. Priests and brothers,
therefore, were united within a single association to minister
to the pastoral and educational needs of the French church.
Father Moreau also added a group of sisters to the fledgling Congregation,
the Marianites of Holy Cross.
Holy
Cross soon spread beyond France to other countries of Europe,
to Africa and North America, and even to the difficult mission
of Eastern Bengal, then in India.
In
1857 the Constitutions of the Congregation were approved, and
the two societies were fused into a closer unity with a shared
governmental structure at all levels. The areas of ministry
that the new Congregation accepted as their own were two:
preaching the Word of God and Christian education.
The
Marianites themselves received approbation for worldwide status
in 1867, and in 1869 and 1883 sisters in two provinces in the
United States and Canada acquired formal existence as independent
congregations: the Sisters of the Holy Cross, and the Sisters
of Holy Cross and of the Seven Dolors (since 1981, the Sisters
of Holy Cross).
In
the long span of years that followed their final approbation,
the Priests and Brothers of Holy Cross devoted their greatest
efforts to educational ministries in the United States and Canada
and France. These years were a time of rapid growth in numbers
and diversification of ministries. The international character
of the community began to evolve extensively. Men went overseas
not so much to establish new churches as to assist indigenous
churches to develop.
The
Constitutions published by the General Chapter of 1986 followed
two decades of deliberation and were a conscious attempt to return
more closely to the ideal of Basil Moreau. Holy Cross was
being persuaded to reinterpret its identity not only as a company
of men devoted to a mission of service but, following the founder's
guiding concern, as a group of clerical and lay religious called
to become brothers, to make a common life together and to embark
upon ministries in concert with one another and with our sisters
in Holy Cross.
Explanation
of “Spes Unica” and C.S.C.
The
seal of the Congregation of Holy Cross is represented by a cross
surmounted at its base by two anchors, the Christian symbol for
hope. Our motto is the Latin phrase Spes Unica reflecting our
conviction that the cross is our "only hope."
The
abbreviation "C.S.C." presents the Latin title of the
Congregation -- Congregatio a Sancta Cruce.
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Significant
Historical Holy Cross People:
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