and also known as the Viatorians is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men (priest, brothers and lay associates) founded in Lyon, France, in 1831 by Father Louis Querbes.
They are a teaching order and are involved in parish ministries and all levels of education, from grade school through university.
[10] Seven years later, he presented his society to the Pope but, counseled by advisors, he had dropped the inclusion of lay members, as it would not have been approved.
On 21 September 1838, he received pontifical approval for the religious institute of the Parochial Clerics or Catechists of Saint Viator.
In France, the typical Cleric of Saint Viator served in small rural parishes, where he was, according to the wishes of the founder, "the cantor, sacristan, catechist, table-mate, and companion" of the priest and the principal of the school.
Afterward, as the country entered an era of political turbulence, religious congregations that, up until that time, could direct public communal schools had to abandon them.
Within the space of two months, the Clerics of Saint Viator of France saw their provincial houses, juniorates, novitiates, and residences for retired members closed and their personnel dispersed.
To support themselves, the organization took part in gardening and farming operations, a tailor shop for religious garb, and sold objects of piety.
From the 1920s until the 1960s, the number of Canadian members grew steadily and eventually constituted two-thirds of the Congregation's membership (1,146 out of 1,760 in the year 1960).
[12] This resulted in members moving east toward the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, north toward the regions of Abitibi and Témiscamingue, and west toward the Province of Manitoba.
[18] The Great Depression took a toll on the Province; Viator College was unable meets its financial obligations and closed in 1938.
A church was set up in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1955, where the Clerics taught at a newly opened high school.
In spite of the interruptions caused by the Civil War (1936-1939), the local communities in Spain formed a vice-province in 1937; ten years later, they became a full-fledged province.
Vatican Council II brought renewed emphasis on the questions and challenges that were present everywhere in the late 1960s.
Reflections that began at the 1969 and 1972 General Chapters resulted in the drafting of a renewed Constitution (1978) that refocused the organization on its mission and the religious life of the Clerics of Saint Viator.
[12] During the renewal process, the congregation decided to accept lay associates, both men and women, into the community.
[20] In 2016, the Clerics of St Viateur, who operated the institute, agreed to a $30 million (CAD) payment to settle the claims.