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Archconfraternity of the Holy Family

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The Archconfraternity of the Holy Family is a Roman Catholic archconfraternity, founded in 1844 in Belgium.

Foundation

This archconfraternity owes its origin to Henri Belletable, an officer in the Engineers' Corps, Liege, Belgium.[1] He resolved to establish a society, which he would divide into companies of twelve in military fashion. The first reunion was held on the evening of Whit-Monday, 1844, in the room of a carpenter. When their numbers outgrew the room, the Redemptorists placed an oratory at their disposal, and Father Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps, rector at Liège, took up the work.

He brought it to the notice of Bishop von Bommel, who gave it his formal approval on 13 February 1845, erected it into a confraternity with the title of Holy Family, 7 April following, and remained its lifelong promoter. Its purpose was to honor the Holy Family of Nazareth, and to encourage each other in the practice of Christian virtues.[1] The statutes then drawn up were later presented to Pope Pius IX, who approved them by Briefs dated 20 and 23 April 1847, raised the society to the rank of an archconfraternity, enriched it with indulgences, and made the rector of the Redemptorists' Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Liege, its director.

The development spread from Belgium to the Netherlands, and finally throughout the Catholic Church. The Archconfraternity was a particular apostolate of the Redemptorists. It was established in 1861 at the parish of the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Manhattan;[2] there was also an active confraternity at St. Alphonsus Liguori Church in St. Louis.[3]

An Archconfraternity for men was founded in Limerick in 1868,[4] where street processions were an important feature of the Archconfraternity until the late 1930s.[5]

Pope Leo XIII, when he established his own association of the Holy Family and suppressed all other associations of the same title, wished this archconfraternity to continue its work.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Archconfraternity of the Holy Family — This archconfraternity owes its origin to Henri Belletable, an officer in the Engineers' Corps, Liege, Belgium. His intercourse with workmen inspired him to labour for their amelioration, which he saw could only be effected through religion. Therefore, he resolved to establish a society, which he would divide into companies of twelve in military fashion. The first reunion was held on the evening of Whit-Monday, 1844, in the room of a carpenter. When their numbers outgrew the room, the Redemptorists placed an oratory at their disposal, and Father Victor Dechamps (q.v.), Belletable's director, took up the work and became its soul. He brought it to the notice of Bishop von Bommel, who gave it his formal approval on 13 February, 1845, erected it into a confraternity with the title of Holy Family, 7 April following, and remained its lifelong promoter. The statutes then drawn up were later presented to Pius IX, who approved them by Briefs dated 20 and 23 April, 1847, raised the society to the rank of an archconfraternity, enriched it with indulgences, and made the rector of the Redemptorists' Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Liege, its director.

The confraternity spread rapidly and at its golden jubilee, in 1894, it had been established in over 1300 churches, and numbered more than 400,000 members. The development spread from Belgium to Holland, and finally throughout the Church. It has been more than sixty years in existence and has lost none of its fervour. Besides divisions for men and boys, there are also branches for women. Pius IX considered this confraternity a providential work for our times, as did also Leo XIII, who, when he established his own association of the Holy Family and suppressed all other associations of the same title, wished this archconfraternity to continue its good work.

Henri-Hubert Belletable, its founder, was b. at Venlo in Holland, 8 April, 1813; d. 1854. After 1830 he became a soldier in Belgium, where he quickly rose from the ranks. In his last illness he insisted on receiving the Viaticum on his knees, but was so weak that two fellow-officers had to support him. After his Holy Communion he prayed fervently for his wife and children, and then died. He did not live long enough to see the development of his work, but his memory is sacred to all members of the archconfraternity. In Holland the members erected a splendid monument to him at Venlo, and those of Holland and Belgium placed a bust in Carrara marble over his tomb at Huy.

LEJEUNE, L'Archiconfrerie de la Sainte Famille, son histoire et ses fruits (Tournai, 1894); Vie du Capitaine Belletable (Tournai, 1898); Manual of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Family (5th ed., Limerick); History of the Limerick Holy Family (Limerick, 1893).

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Addis, William Edward; Arnold, Thomas (1893). A Catholic Dictionary: Containing Some Account of the Doctrine, Discipline, Rites, Ceremonies, Councils, and Religious Orders of the Catholic Church. Benziger Brothers. p. 436.
  2. Back to citation "IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH; AN ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARCHCONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLY FAMILY". The New York Times. 1886-03-29. p. 2. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  3. Back to citation Geiermann, Peter (1924). Annals of the St. Louis Province of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Vol. 1. p. 37.
  4. Back to citation Murphy, T. A. (1923). "The Arch-Confraternity of the Holy Family of Limerick". The Irish Monthly. 51 (599): 209–216. ISSN 2009-2113.
  5. Back to citation De Cléir, Síle (2017). Popular Catholicism in 20th-century Ireland: locality, identity and culture. London: Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-350-02059-7.
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