On November 11 2009, a Day of Remembrance, the Blessed Sacrament community of Québec welcomed the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament who left their sanctuary of Mont-Tabor, in the same city, to take up residence on the fifth floor of the male religious' monastery, since this had become too large for them alone. Some were amazed to see such good relations between the brethren and the Sisters, because they were convinced that the two Congregations had severed ties between each other… To understand the reason for this false impression I dug into the history a bit and - indeed with the help of one of the Sister Servants - I uncovered the following points that I present here briefly.

  I. - It is first of all necessary to go back to Fr Eymard's time, before May 1856

  Father Eymard received his grace of vocation at Lyons, mainly at Fourvière. Assigned to La Seyne, this is where he began to lay the foundation stones concretely - by making an approach to Pope Pius IX through the good offices of Father Jandel and Father Touche, writing projects of a rule, enlisting possible candidates either from among the secular clergy or from the students of the college of La Seyne. He included also a feminine branch on his agenda. And in August 1854 while on a pilgrimage-retreat to Laus and La Salette, he gathered five persons likely to form part of his project. He wrote to Marguerite Guillot on July 1, 1855: "Everything (i.e. the two branches) could, it is true, begin at the same time." CO 511.

On May 13 1856, the Society of the Blessed Sacrament was founded in Paris with only two members: Eymard himself and de Cuers. Except for Abbé Audibert, none of the candidates foreseen at La Seyne would show up. There wasn't any question of the feminine branch at the time, even if it was always in the overall project. On September 20 1856, he wrote to Mother Marguerite: " We'll wish to wait for the first sacrifices of our being set up are made, for the mustard seed to take root a bit. At the moment it would be too much to rely on the charitable kindness of these new sisters. In war the women are left in the camp. (CO 624).

  Then, on May 25 1858, Marguerite Guillot with her sister Claudine and Benoîte Montcriol arrived in Paris. Madame Duhaut-Cilly and her group were already there for some time. The two groups became united at the beginning of July at 66 rue du Faubourg St Jacques. The Sisters - being called such only among themselves - made adoration in the chapel of the Fathers, occasionally attended to the flowers, carried out various services, in particular Sister Marie who was an organist, and jotted down notes of Father Eymard's instructions given at the chapel of the Fathers.

In May 1864, according to a calumnious report to Rome, the male religious and Sisters were said to be living under the same roof. While Father Eymard refuted this charge well, he had to agree to distancing the Sisters. The Fathers being already at Angers, the way was open for the bishop to accept them. The Sisters had from there on canonical status, wore the habit and were officially called Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. Father Eymard himself was their superior. The relations with the Fathers of Angers were fraternal.

  Then, there was the distressing case of Nemours

  The foundation of the Servants at Nemours didn't last more than some months and was a financial failure very damaging to persons and their relations. Father Eymard lost his credibility with some bishops most involved. Mgr Angebault of Angers required Father Eymard to account and rightly so. This was the moment to clarify matters. Father Eymard wrote to Mother Marguerite on July 18 1867: Now, listen well to me: hand yourself over to the episcopal authority […]. I would always be awkwardly situated. You need Monseigneur the bishop more than me. You must place yourself into his hands; this is the wise and prudent approach. Ask him clearly to be your Superior. You understand well that it is ridiculous to have a Superior in Paris or in Brussels. Monseigneur will be happy with that, because a father always loves his smallest children.  

  This will not diminish at all my affection and dedication to the good of the Society of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament and to your personal welfare. But it is time for everything to be settled in an orderly way. "CO 1987.2. This decision was very painful to Mother Marguerite.

II. After the death of the Founder

  Father Eymard died on August 1 1868 and Father de Cuers was elected as Superior General. The rupture began here. With hindsight we can understand, but at the time this was impossible. Here are some aspects to consider about this period:

  - Father de Cuers was an integral man fixed in his ideas. It seems that he opposed the departure of the Sisters from Paris because they carried out a fine service. Did Father Eymard, who was always discrete, keep to himself the reason for their departure? This is quite possible.

  - Father de Cuers was for a certain time far from the course of events, being taken up with his own work. Even after being elected Superior General, he didn't go to reside in Paris, but stayed at Roquefavour. Up to a certain point he was withdrawn in retreat from his own community, and hence from that of the Servants. He was Superior General for only three years.

  - Father de Cuers was replaced by Father Champion, who remained as Superior General for a decade. An improvement of relations wasn't to be expected from him. Although Father Champion probably supported Father Eymard, his conduct could be considered very remiss regarding everything concerning the case of Nemours. He sided with Sister Benoîte, the Superior, against Mother Marguerite, who was falsely accused of wanting to be freed from Father Eymard's guidance. Father Eymard's eyes weren't opened to this entire sad business until March 1868 when he visited Angers. In the correspondence of Father Champion passages can be found showing he had little esteem for Mother Marguerite. She suffered greatly from this separation brought about wrongly.

  Regarding the break in relations that had more or less come about between the Fathers and Sisters we can't say much at the present stage of research. But we know that the relations were strongly re-established - 20 years later - with the election of Father Tesnière as Superior General of the Congregation (January 1887). Between him and the Superior General of the Servants at the time, Mother Marie-Clémence, there was a close collaboration, as can be seen with hindsight. Father Tesnière took part in all the chapters of the Sisters and preached many retreats to them. His relations with the Servants in fact date back to January 1872, when as a newly ordained priest he went to visit the Sisters of Angers taken there by Father Audibert. He discovered that they had an exceptionally rich mine of documents in their archives concerning Father Eymard. This must have stirred up his longing to borrow many documents and have them copied for the purpose of publishing his Series of the Founder's writings.

In bringing this historical survey to a close, what's the situation in our days?  

  In all the cities where the Fathers and Sisters are, the relations established are marked by confidence and a joyous fraternal spirit. Research needs to be done about the names of Blessed Sacrament religious who have acted as chaplains in the convents of the Servants. But what is most important to be noted is the collaboration on the level of SSS works. This collaboration was already afoot in the 1960s with Father Evers. But Father Cave deepened this reciprocal collaboration though having been given full access to the Servants' archives; two of his books were translated and printed thanks to the care of one of the Sister Servants. In 1995 a new commission on the Founder and his work was formed. This comprised male and female religious of the Blessed Sacrament Congregations. In June of the same year an important session prepared by members of this commission took place at Colombier in France, where religious from both Congregations participated. It was there that was born the project regarding bringing out a computerised edition of the writings of Father Eymard. A CD-Rom was produced in 1999 by a Blessed Sacrament Father and a Sister Servant with the collaboration of some other persons. This first attempt opened the way toward the enormous project of publishing the Complete Works (Œuvres complètes) of Father Eymard on the internet and in printed form. This masterpiece wouldn't have been possible but thanks to the collaboration of the two Congregations.

  Finally, to close on a fraternal note, it must be remembered at what feast the SSS religious, headed by Father Salvi, were invited to the General House of the Servants August 2 last at Sherbrooke… And with what fervour Cardinal Ouellet spoke of our two Congregations at the Mass of closure of Mont Thabor on November 7 last. And I can't pass over in silence with what promptness some of our religious agreed to give up their rooms on the fifth floor in Québec to receive our Sisters (in two senses of the word)… I believe that there isn't need of further proof about recognising now that the Servants are very welcome by us here, and anywhere else in the Congregation.