in every age the holy church ardently desired to see her priests use, to the greatest possible extent, the religious and community life as a great means of personal sanctification. In the Brief, “Salutare Maxime,” of February 11, 1913, Pope St. Pius X approved definitively the Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception and he eagerly recommended the religious and community life to the parochial clergy. In doing so he was not proposing something new and unheard of in former times, rather he was only following in the footsteps of his predecessors, particularly: Honorius II (1124-1130), Innocent II (1130-1143), Benedict XII (1334-1342), Eugene IV (1431-1447), Pius II (1458-1464), Sixtus IV (1471-1484), Paul III (1534-1549), Pius IV (1559-1565), Pope St. Pius V (1566-1572), and Urban VIII (1623-1644); all of whom praised and upheld the religious and community life and considered it to be of apostolic origin.

 

     The perfection and sanctification of the clergy by means of common life, liturgical prayer and apostolic penance was the constant endeavor and undivided aim of Dom Adrien Gréa, the Founder of the Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception.