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.