Claude Poullart des Places
| Rev. Claude-François Poullart des Places |
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|---|---|
Des Places after his ordination as a priest
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| Born |
26 February 1679 Rennes, France |
| Died | 2 October 1709 (aged 30) Paris, France |
| Resting place |
Church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, Paris, France 48°50′48″N 2°20′53″E / 48.84667°N 2.34806°E |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | Founding the Congregation of the Holy Ghost |
Claude-François Poullart des Places, C.S.Sp. (26 February 1679 – 2 October 1709) was a French Catholic priest who founded the Holy Ghost Fathers (Congregation of the Holy Ghost) in 1703 at the age of 24. The decree opening his cause of canonization was promulgated on 1 October 1989, but has not yet proceeded to his beatification.
Claude des Places, was born on 26 February 1679 in Rennes, France, the son of a French aristocrat, François des Places, and his wife, Jeanne le Meneust. He was baptized the next day. His father was one of the wealthiest businessmen in the city and enjoyed considerable standing in the community as an attorney in the Breton Parliament. Claude's mother also belonged to the aristocracy and, prior to her marriage, served as governess to the family of the President of the Provincial Parliament.
His family moved twice in his childhood. Following a relocation to Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue, des Places entered the Jesuit Collège Saint-Thomas in October 1690. He studied further under the Jesuits at their college in Rennes and Caen from 1693 to 1695. Among his friends was Louis Grignion de Montfort. Des Places led a mischievous adolescence: he once narrowly missed his sister with a shot from their father's revolver—he thought it was unloaded—when she was annoying him as he studied a role for a school play. He was nearly killed himself during a hunting trip, and got into a roadside brawl in Nantes. He was a talented student, however, and was the valedictorian of his class. For his remarkable graduation dissertation he was invited to Versailles as a guest of France's royal family.
Des Places' life began to change when he became aware of the needs of the poor while studying law—he was soon moved to help the homeless boys and chimney sweeps by giving them money from his allowance. Though he graduated with his degree in law from Nantes in 1700, his growing involvement with the poor inspired the young des Places to give up his career. He left the university and entered the Jesuit seminary Lycée Louis-le-Grand in 1701. He received the tonsure on 15 August 1702.
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