Word of God: (Acts 1:14)
“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
Insight from the Founders
From its very origins, Spiritan spirituality has carried a profoundly Marian imprint. Poullart des Places intended Spiritan consecration to be inseparable from a special bond with Mary, the model of total docility to the Spirit. The founding act of the Seminary of the Holy Spirit bears powerful witness to this: on Pentecost 1703, twelve students gathered around him to consecrate themselves to the Holy Spirit under the invocation of Mary conceived without sin, at the feet of the Black Madonna of Our Lady of Good Deliverance. This gesture was not merely devotional; in a certain sense, it re‑enacted the Upper Room. Like the first Christian community, which awaited the power from on high “with one heart, together with Mary” (Acts 1:14), these young men gathered around her to receive the Spirit.
This conviction is equally present in Libermann. On 25 September 1841, together with Frédéric Le Vavasseur and Eugène Tisserant, he celebrated the Mass marking the foundation of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Mary at Notre‑Dame des Victoires. By giving his missionary community such a profoundly Marian name, he clearly followed in the footsteps of Poullart des Places. In explaining the Provisional Rule of 1840 to his novices, Libermann emphasized that the consecration was not simply addressed to Mary, but to the Heart of Mary. This choice, he explained, was not the result of calculation or strategy: it imposed itself upon him as an inner attraction, a powerful impulse. And this orientation was anything but secondary: it touched the very heart of apostolic life. To carry out the apostolate fruitfully, one needs the Spirit; and after Jesus, where can the apostolic spirit be found in its purest form if not in the Heart of Mary? This Heart, “filled with the Spirit,” is an “eminently apostolic heart,” inflamed with the desire for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
This conviction is expressed forcefully once again in the Rule of 1849, where Libermann presents the Heart of Mary as “the perfect model of fidelity to all the holy inspirations of the Divine Spirit and of the interior practice of the virtues of the apostolic religious life” (ND X, 568).
Reflection
If Spiritan spirituality is Marian, it is because, from the beginning, our consecration has been understood as inseparable from a filial relationship with the Virgin. Poullart des Places experienced this deeply: his childlike trust in Mary shaped the way he surrendered himself to the Spirit and prepared the founding act performed at the feet of Our Lady of Bonne‑Délivrance. By choosing Pentecost for the foundation, he placed the young community within the dynamic of the Upper Room: with Mary, open to the Spirit, ready to be sent.
In Libermann, this intuition becomes even more explicit. From the moment of his baptism, he discovered in Mary a maternal presence who introduced him to Christ and the Spirit. His devotion was peaceful, interior, and profoundly filial. He sees in her “God’s success,” the perfect model of docility to the inspirations of the Spirit, and a refuge in which to lay down his frailties. For him, Mary never ceases, from heaven, to work for the growth of the Church: she continues what she accomplished in the early days of the Christian community.
The Heart of Mary thus becomes for Libermann both model and source: a model of the apostolic zeal that must animate missionaries, and a source from which they draw light, strength, and peace. The Marian consecration he proposes is a central pillar: the surest path to learning docility, inner peace, and missionary readiness.
In the Spiritan tradition, Mary occupies a central place: she is a pole of unity, the one who gathers, opens us to the Spirit, and disposes hearts for mission. With her, waiting becomes readiness, and the community is formed in the same movement as the nascent Church: united, prayerful, docile to the breath of the Spirit. For the Spiritan missionary, Mary naturally becomes a model of fidelity, a source of strength and light, a refuge in trials, and a sure guide for remaining in the peace of the Spirit.
To be truly a son and heir of Poullart des Places and Libermann is to place oneself at Mary’s feet to learn from her the right way to be a missionary. By allowing our hearts to be shaped in contact with hers, our way of acting becomes simpler, more unified, and more open to the Spirit. Then the mission ceases to be primarily about what we accomplish; it becomes what God can and wishes to accomplish in us.
Questions for reflection
- What changes are we called to make so that our way of living as a community — or as a family — becomes a genuine proclamation of the Gospel?
- Do our communities inspire others to believe in Christian fellowship? Which aspects of our lifestyle attract, challenge, or discourage those who encounter us? And what signs of the Spirit do we discern within them?
Prayer
Mary, Mother of the Lord and our Mother,
You, the perfect model of docility and apostolic zeal,
You whose Heart is filled with the Spirit, we turn to you.
It is to you, and to your Heart, that we are consecrated.
United with you in one heart, in the cenacles of our communities, we watch for the signs of the Spirit. Teach us docility and lead us on the path of apostolic zeal.
With you, we offer ourselves to the Holy Spirit, that God may accomplish in us his work of sanctification.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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