The Community of Saint Martin is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

public clerical association of pontifical right, comprising priests and deacons. It was founded in 1976 by Fr Jean-François Guérin, a French priest from the

Archdiocese of Tours The Archdiocese of Tours (; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese has roots that go back to the 3rd century, while the formal erection of the diocese dates from the 5th century. The ecclesiastical pro ...

, under the protection of the Italian cardinal

Giuseppe Siri Giuseppe Siri (20 May 1906 – 2 May 1989) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Genoa from 1946 to 1987, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1953. A protege of Pope Pius XII, he took part in the Seco ...

Archbishop of Genoa The Archdiocese of Genoa () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. Erected in the 3rd century, it was elevated to an archdiocese on 20 March 1133. The archdiocese of Genoa was, in 1986, united with ...

. The community focuses on traditionalist liturgy, with its priests wearing

cassocks The cassock, or soutane, is a Christian clerical coat used by the clergy and male religious of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, in addition to some clergy in certain Protestant denominations s ...

and offering Novus Ordo Mass often in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, with

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

and facing

ad orientem ''Ad orientem'', meaning 'to the east' in Ecclesiastical Latin, is a phrase used to describe the eastward orientation of Christian prayer and Christian worship, comprising the preposition ''ad'' (toward) and ''oriens'' (rising, sunrise, east), p ...

. In 2023, the community included 185 priests and deacons and more than 100 seminarians. Priests of the community work in parishes, schools, nursing homes, chaplaincies, or sanctuaries in 30 dioceses in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...

and

deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Catholi ...

of the community are sent in groups of at least three to live and pray together in a spiritual and practical brotherhood.

History

Silent prayer seminary Community of Saint Martin

Between 1965 and 1976, Guérin was active in Paris. He was chaplain of the Basilica of Sacré Cœur in Montmartre, and he had an important apostolate with the youth as many had chosen him as their spiritual director. While many of these youths chose to enter a religious order, often in the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

and

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

traditions, some felt that their call was to become secular priests in the same way that Guérin was. This meant living their priesthood in community with others and pursuing his liturgical spirit rooted in the Latin and Gregorian tradition of the

Roman rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

, and in the

liturgical movement The Liturgical Movement was a 19th-century and 20th-century movement of scholarship for the reform of worship. It began in the Catholic Church and spread to many other Christian churches including the Anglican Communion, Lutheran and some other Pro ...

as it found its clear expression in the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. As Cardinal Siri sought to help the French Church to promote the renewal of priestly training, he received Fr. Guérin and his first seminarians in his archdiocese in 1976. Thus the Community of Saint Martin was founded in Italy to give priests to the Catholic Church in France. Guérin and his students established themselves in the Capuchin convent of Genoa-

Voltri Voltri is a quartiere of the Italian city of Genoa, located west of the city centre. It was formerly an independent comune. In 2015, Voltri and the nearby hamlets included in Genoa's VII Municipio (Crevari, Acquasanta, Vesima, Fabbriche) had a ...

. The seminarians followed the academic part of their training in the Genoa seminary, while Guérin took charge of their human and spiritual formation. By 1979, the first

ordinations Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform vari ...

to priesthood took place.In 1983 the Community got its first pastoral mission in the

diocese of Fréjus-Toulon In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

in south-eastern France. In the following years, other French bishops entrusted

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es to the Community. In 1993 there was an opportunity for the Mother House to move from Italy and to establish the Community's

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

in France in the village of

Candé-sur-Beuvron Candé-sur-Beuvron (, literally ''Candé on Beuvron'') is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department in central France. Geography The Cosson river flows southwest through the middle of the commune, then flows into the Beuvron, which flows wes ...

, near

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

in the

Loire Valley The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is r ...

. After twenty years there, the Community moved to

Évron Évron () is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France. On 1 January 2019, the former communes Châtres-la-Forêt and Saint-Christophe-du-Luat were merged into Évron. Évron (pop. 8,700) is noted for the Basilica of Notre-D ...

in north-western France to accommodate the sharp increase in vocations. Since 2010, abbé Paul Préaux is the general moderator of the community, reelected in 2016 an again in 2022. In September 2014, the Community moved its Mother House and House of Training to the former

Évron Abbey Évron Abbey () is a former Benedictine abbey in Évron, in the Mayenne Mayenne ( ) is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is su ...

in the department of

Mayenne Mayenne ( ) is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Il ...

. There the intellectual formation of the seminarians is given by their School of Theology, affiliated since 2007 with the

Pontifical Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University (; ), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. The university ...

. The human and spiritual formation is given by a team of six full-time

while the pastoral formation takes place during the vacations and during the intermediate year between the cycle of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

when each seminarian spends one year living in a parish of the Community. Their training consists of eight years in all to become a priest, but some choose to become unmarried

permanent deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Catholi ...

Canonical status

Priests seminarians Evron community of saint martin

Canonically, the community is a public clerical association of

pontifical right In Catholicism, "of pontifical right" is the term given to ecclesiastical institutions (religious and secular institutes, societies of apostolic life) either created by the Holy See, or approved by it with the formal decree known by the Latin na ...

. The

superior general A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of an 'order' of religious persons (nuns, priests, friars, etc) or, in other words, of a 'religious institute' in the Catholic Church, and in some other Christian denominations. The super ...

of the community is called "moderator". The first canonical recognition of the Community was granted by Cardinal Siri in 1979. His successor as archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal

Giovanni Canestri Giovanni Canestri (30 September 1918 – 29 April 2015) was an Italian Catholic cardinal, who served as Archbishop of Cagliari from 1984 until 1987 and as Archbishop of Genoa from 1987 until 1995. Life Born in Castelspina, province of Alessa ...

, recognized the Community as a public clerical association of diocesan right. In 2000 it got the status of a public clerical association of pontifical right attached to the

dicastery for the Clergy The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy (; formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and Sacred Congregation of the Council), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regardin ...

. In 2008 the then-

Congregation for the clergy The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy (; formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and Sacred Congregation of the Council), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regard ...

gave the Moderator-General of the community the authority to incardinate its members, priests and deacons. He is elected by the

general assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

of members for a term of 6 years, and confirmed by the dicastery for the Clergy. The members report

hierarchically A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...

to the moderator of the community, with a duty of

obedience Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of "social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure". Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which some authors define as behavior infl ...

to the bishop of the diocese to which they are sent.

Missions

Priests of the Community work in parishes, schools, nursing homes, chaplaincies, or sanctuaries in 37 towns and cities in France, as well as in

Neviges Velbert (, Low Rhenish: ''Vèlbed'') is a town in the district of Mettmann, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The town is renowned worldwide for the production of locks and fittings. Geography Velbert is located on the hills of 'Nied ...

(Germany) and in

Placetas Placetas () is a city in the Villa Clara Province in the center of Cuba; before the change in the country's government in 1959 the province was called Las Villas. The town is also known as because of its wild Lauraceae, laurel trees. Placetas is ...

(Cuba). Some members of the Community are also at the service of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

, and entrusted with various missions in Rome or in apostolic nunciatures. The

and

of the Community are sent in small groups of at least three to live and pray together in a spiritual and practical brotherhood. In the community's

, the formation is delivered “with a particular focus on the human development of its priests”.

Spirituality

The main characteristics of the Community are the mobility of its members and the fact that they live their ministry together. “Martinian” spirituality has three sources: * The Benedictine tradition of the

Solesmes Congregation The Solesmes Congregation is an association of monasteries within the Benedictine Confederation headed by the Abbey of Solesmes. History The congregation was founded in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI as the French Benedictine Congregation, with the th ...

. Father Guérin was an oblate of Fontgombault Abbey and a disciple of

Prosper Guéranger Prosper Louis Pascal Guéranger (; 4 April 1805 – 30 January 1875) was a French priest and Benedictine monk, who served for nearly 40 years as the abbot of the monastery of Solesmes (which he founded among the ruins of a former priory at Sol ...

's spirituality of the liturgical year. He was also inherited from the developments of the twentieth century by the

. * The French school of spirituality with figures such as

Pierre de Bérulle Pierre de Bérulle (; 4 February 1575 – 2 October 1629) was a French Catholic priest, cardinal and statesman in 17th-century France. He was the founder of the French school of spirituality and counted among his disciples Vincent de Paul and Fr ...

and

Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was an Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622, Vincent was appointed as chaplain to the galleys. ...

as well as the

Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (; PSS), also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the ...

. * The communal life as lived out by the

Canons Regular The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into Religious order (Catholic), religious orders, differing from both Secular clergy, ...

under the

Rule of Saint Augustine The Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about the year 400, is a brief document divided into eight chapters and serves as an outline for religious life lived in community. It is the oldest monastic rule in the Western Church. The rule, develop ...

. Drawing from these three traditions,

Lectio Divina In Western Christianity, ''Lectio Divina'' (Latin for "Divine Reading") is a traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's word. In the v ...

is a daily practice for the Community as well as the celebration of the

Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (), Divine Office (), or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official ...

sung in Latin according to the Ordinary form of the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

References

External links