Holy Ghost Fathers

The Congregation of the Holy Ghost (full title, Congregation of the Holy Ghost under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or in Latin, Congregatio Sancti Spiritus sub tutela Immaculati Cordis Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, and thus abbreviated C.S.Sp.) is a Roman Catholic congregation of priests, lay brothers, and since Vatican II, lay associates. Congregation members are known as Spiritans in Continental Europe, and as the Holy Ghost Fathers in English-speaking countries, although even there, they are becoming known as Spiritans. A Spiritan priest or brother has the abbreviation C.S.Sp. after his name.

History

Spiritans in the 1840s dedicated themselves to working with newly freed slaves on the islands of Haiti, Mauritius and Réunion. In East Africa, where most of the American Spiritans now serve, they began to work in the 1860s by buying men and women out of slavery in Zanzibar. They opened schools and hospitals, taught people marketable skills, and gave property to those who needed it. The Spiritans pioneered modern missionary activity in Africa and ultimately sent more missionaries there than any other religious institute in the Catholic Church.