RESURRECTIONISTS

The Congregation of the Resurrection (CR, Official Catholic Directory #1080) received its name from the original members who pronounced their first vows on the feast of the Resurrection, 1842, in the catacombs of St. Sebastian in Rome. The founders were three young Polish scholars, Bogdan Janski, Peter Semenenko, and Jerome Kajsiewicz, who had returned to the practice of their Catholic faith only a few years earlier. Inspired by the French Catholic lay apostolate movement headed by Count Charles montalembert, Jean lacordaire, and Frédéick ozanam, the three founders attempted a similar work among their compatriots in Paris. There in 1836 with a few companions, they began leading a common life under the direction of Janski. Never ordained, he died in Rome before his community made first vows and before Semenenko became the first superior general. The three cofounders, Janski, Semenenko, and Kajsiewicz, are buried in the Church of the Resurrection adjacent to the mother house in Rome.

Although the congregation encountered many reverses, its members were soon working in Italy, France, Canada, Turkey, Bulgaria, the U.S., Poland, and Austria. They received the decree of praise in 1860; final approval of the constitutions was granted in 1902. Later, at the request of Pius XII, the Resurrectionists established missions in Bermuda, Bolivia, and Brazil. The motherhouse is in Rome.

In 1857 Father Eugene Funcken left Rome for Canada and began work in the Catholic settlement of St. Agatha, Ontario. Headquarters were later moved to a neighboring town then called Berlin, later the city of Kitchener. Work in the U.S. began in 1865 at Parisville, MI, and spread the following year to Texas. In 1870 a permanent mission was established in Chicago, IL, and in 1871 the Canadian Resurrectionists, complying with an earlier request of Bp. William McCloskey of Louisville, assumed control of St. Mary's College, founded in 1821 by Rev. William Byrne. The U.S. provincialate is in Chicago, IL.

Bibliography: l. long, The Resurrectionists (Chicago 1947).

[a. a. ruetz/eds.]