The Society of Saint Edmund ( la, Societas Patrum S. Edmundi) abbreviated SSE, also known as the Edmundites is a clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

founded in 1843, in Pontigny,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, by Rev.

Jean Baptiste Muard Jean-Baptiste Muard ( Vireaux, 1809- Pierre-Qui-Vire, 1854) was a French Benedictine, reformer, and founder of religious orders. Biography Jean-Baptiste Muard was born, the eldest of three sons, on April 29, 1809 in Vireaux to Claude and Cather ...

. The congregation is named after Saint Edmund and the members are commonly called Edmundites. The members of the congregation add the nominal letters S.S.E. after their names to indicate membership in the Society. They adhere to the

vows A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise, a promise solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddin ...

of chastity, poverty and obedience.

History

Members of the Society, based in Pontigny, fled to the United States through Montreal, Canada in 1889 after widespread anticlericalism seized France. The Society of St. Edmund settled in Winooski,

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

, and established

Saint Michael's College Saint Michael's College (St. Mikes or Saint Michael's) is a private Roman Catholic college in Colchester, Vermont. Saint Michael's was founded in 1904 by the Society of Saint Edmund. It grants Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees ...

in 1904. The original motherhouse is at Pontigny, but since the expulsion of the religious institutes the superior general resided at

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people, a tribe holding ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. In the early 20th century, the congregation had two houses in the United States: a missionary house and apostolic school at Swanton, Vermont, for the training of young men who wish to study for the priesthood and the religious life; and a college at

Colchester, Vermont Colchester is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Colchester was 17,524. It is the fourth-most populous municipality and second-most populous town in the state of Vermont. Colchester bor ...

, with 12 fathers, 8 scholastics, and 100 pupils. Saint Michael's College has since expanded to 2,000 undergraduates and 650 graduate students. In 1937 the Society turned to the missions of black

Afro-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

, mainly in Alabama thanks to Father Francis "Frank" Casey. During the

Civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

and the lead up to the

Selma to Montgomery marches The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the ...

, the Society was the only white group in Selma who openly supported the voting rights campaign.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segreg ...

staff member Don Jelinek later described this order as "the unsung heroes of the Selma March ... who provided the only integrated Catholic church in Selma, and perhaps in the entire

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the wa ...

".Don Jelinek, Oral History/Interview, 2005-Selma Underground: Fathers of St. Edmund
, Civil Rights Movement Archive website.

Present-day

The Society was formed to keep St. Edmund's memory and life alive through faithful service, for the work of popular missions. The members also devote themselves to parochial work, to the education of youth in seminaries and colleges, to the direction of pious associations, and to foreign missions.

References

External links

Society of Saint Edmund
Order website
Saint Michael's College
established by the Society in 1904 {{catholic congregation Catholic orders and societies Religious organizations established in 1843 African-American Roman Catholicism Catholic religious institutes established in the 19th century 1843 establishments in France 1889 establishments in Vermont