TheCongregation of the Oratory of Jesus and Mary Immaculate (French:Société de l'Oratoire de Jésus et de Marie Immaculée,Latin:Congregatio Oratorii Iesu et Mariæ), best known as theFrench Oratory orOratory of Jesus, is asociety of apostolic life of Catholic priests founded in 1611 inParis, France, byPierre de Bérulle (1575–1629), who later became acardinal. Members are known asBérullians orOratorians.[1]
The French Oratory had a determinant influence on theFrench school of spirituality throughout the 17th century. It is separate and distinct from theOratory of Saint Philip Neri, which served as its inspiration. The aim of the Society is to center spiritual life on the human aspect ofJesus, linked to the essence of God. Unlike the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, whose communities are all autonomous, the French Oratory operates under the central authority of asuperior general.
In France, Bérulle,ordained a priest in 1599, felt that the clergy of the country had lost their spirit, seeking only the economic security ofbenefices. With the goal of restoring the spiritual commitment to their calling, on 11 November 1611, he and five other priests founded a society of priests, without the obligation ofreligious vows, in which one would dedicate one's entire strength to priestly perfection, in order to carry out all the functions of this ministry and to shape in piety those who aspired to this. Bérulle hoped that such priests would both inspire others of the French clergy, and blunt the attraction of Calvinism.[2]
Taking the example of theOratory of Saint Philip Neri in Rome, he envisionedsecular clergy living together in community. However, Bérulle felt that the situation in France required a tighter organizational structure than Neri's communities in Italy, so the French Oratory operated under the authority of a Superior General. The Oratory receivedletters patent from KingLouis XIII of France that same year.Pope Paul V authorized them on 10 May 1613. At the time of the founder's death in 1629, the Oratory numbered about 400 priests, living in some 60 communities.[3]
Like the Jesuits and Capuchins, members of the French Oratory conducted parish missions.[4] The French Oratory became very important in the area ofspiritual direction, as the Fathers of the congregation wereconfessors of influential people, for exampleCharles de Condren, confessor toPrince Gaston of France, King Louis' brother, and were protected by the royal court, especially QueenMarie de Medici. They also were confessors to numerous monasteries ofDiscalced Carmelites, who had been established in France, through the efforts of Bérulle, under the leadership of theBlessedMarie of the Incarnation, OCD.
The church which the Oratorians built on theRue Saint-Honoré in 1750 became theparish church of the royal court.[3]
Although not a teaching order, it was the first to organize seminaries in France according to the ordinances of the Council of Trent.[5] The Oratorians also became leading figures in the field of education in France and founded their own schools and colleges, such as theCollege of Juilly which they opened in 1638. In their schools, they taught in French, rather than the Latin used in the Jesuit schools. They had a curriculum which taught contemporary literature and the sciences. Their students learned modern foreign languages as opposed to theclassical languages.[3]
When theFrench Revolution broke out in 1789, initially the Fathers of the Oratory were very supportive of the ideals of liberty that it espoused, which fit into their corporate ethos. Despite this support, theLegislative Assembly of the new Republic dissolved all secular congregations in August 1792 and their communities and schools were disbanded.[4] Some of the lay teachers in their schools, such asJacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne, became greatly involved with the Revolution.
Of the 288 members of the Oratory at that time, 51 chose to accept theCivil Constitution of the Clergy. They made up about one-fifth of the French clergy who did so. Of the rest of the Congregation, 15 were arrested and died either in prison or on theguillotine. The rest went into hiding or fled the country. The last Superior General had died in 1790, but, given the social upheavals going on, the Oratorians decided to wait it out before attempting to elect a successor, thinking that the situation would be only temporary.[3]
Several attempts were made to re-establish the Congregation after the Catholic Church was allowed to function again in the nation. They were successful only in 1852, under the leadership of theAbbéJoseph Gratry, together with the Abbés Pierre Pététot (1801–1888) andHyacinthe de Valroger.[3]
Gratry was an academic, holdingdoctorates in both the humanities andtheology. He was named theAlmoner of theÉcole Normale Supérieure in 1846, which placed him at the center of intellectual life of the period. He envisioned communities which could be schools of theological exploration, working with the scientific focus of modern society. Pététot was apastor inParis, who saw the clergy of the day as worldly and poorly formed. When they met, they found that they shared a desire for secular priests living in community, without vows.[3]
In 1903, forced to leave the country as a result of theanti-clerical laws of theThird French Republic, the Oratorians took refuge in Switzerland, returning to France only in 1920.
As of 2019, they numbered 35 members in 13 locations.[6]
TheSociety of Priests of Saint Sulpice was founded in 1641 with the purpose of the education of priests, byJean-Jacques Olier, a disciple of Oratorian Charles de Condren.[5]
John Eudes was a member of the Oratory before leaving to establish theCongregation of Jesus and Mary.
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