His First Appointment
Annecy is some 100 kilometres from both Grenoble where he was born and from Lyons where he had made his vows as a Vincentian. Today it is is the department of Haut Savoy. Though French speaking. in those days it was not in France at all but in the Kingdom of Sardinia which was ruled by the family of Savoy. The seminary was a notable building in a moderate sized town, beautifully positioned on Lake Annecy. The building had been a gift from a pious duke of Savoy some fifty years before. The normal length of the course there was two years. The Vincentian community consisted of some six or seven priests and brothers. It was no accident that young Father Clet had been sent to Annecy. A year earlier the superior at Lyons had been transferred to Annecy. He had noted Clet's intelligence, his diligence at his studies, his piety and regularity of life. We can presume that he moved heaven and earth to have this appointment made.
Annecy is some 100 kilometres from both Grenoble where he was born and from Lyons where he had made his vows as a Vincentian. Today it is is the department of Haut Savoy. Though French speaking. in those days it was not in France at all but in the Kingdom of Sardinia which was ruled by the family of Savoy. The seminary was a notable building in a moderate sized town, beautifully positioned on Lake Annecy. The building had been a gift from a pious duke of Savoy some fifty years before. The normal length of the course there was two years. The Vincentian community consisted of some six or seven priests and brothers. It was no accident that young Father Clet had been sent to Annecy. A year earlier the superior at Lyons had been transferred to Annecy. He had noted Clet's intelligence, his diligence at his studies, his piety and regularity of life. We can presume that he moved heaven and earth to have this appointment made.
Life in the Seminars.
In the rather solemn world of the seminary his familiar name of "Regis" ceases to be used. Even "Francis-Regis" will be reserved for signatures. Both staff and students addressed each other formally by surname and title. Inside and outside the seminary they were dressed in their black flowing soutanes. the Vincentians being required by their rule to dress simply and cleanly without regard for fashion. Staff and students lived apart. each in their own section of the building, though the director of students shared much of the life and recreation of the students. There would be no more mountain hikes at Varces to which his rule allowed him to return only infrequently, though in the eighteenth century this rulewas interpreted benignly. The mode of living, deemed suitable for a priest of his status, would say no to helping his cousins in the fields or even to business affairs in his father's shop.
The aim of the seminary was pastoral, seeking to train priests who were pious and dutiful, who understood how to administer the sacraments and handle the general administrative affairs of a parish. These priests would need to know the moral theology that was basic to the sacrament of penance. The emphasis was not on deep learning but on the practice of the pastoral life. The role of the professor of moral theology was crucial to all this and in the fifteen years which he spent at Annecy Father Clet achieved a reputation for his encyclopedic learning, a deserved reputation even allowing for the exaggerations of the closed in seminary world. He was, as the superior who had appointed him expected, the ideal, solid, non adventurous professor, giving a fine example to his students, and always supportive of his superiors. His classical training at the Collge of Grenoble stood him in good stead. He wrote freely in Latin as well as in French. As a preacher he was respected. Eminently practical, a suitable example for his students.
Practical he was, and so, for a period at least, he was bursar to the seminary and that at a time when the seminary was being enlarged to allow for an extension of the course from two years to three. The financial aspects of this should have been no difficulty for this son of a Grenoble business man. The experience he gained in dealing with workers and craftsmen would have a value in the future which just then was not foreseen.
The aim of the seminary was pastoral, seeking to train priests who were pious and dutiful, who understood how to administer the sacraments and handle the general administrative affairs of a parish. These priests would need to know the moral theology that was basic to the sacrament of penance. The emphasis was not on deep learning but on the practice of the pastoral life. The role of the professor of moral theology was crucial to all this and in the fifteen years which he spent at Annecy Father Clet achieved a reputation for his encyclopedic learning, a deserved reputation even allowing for the exaggerations of the closed in seminary world. He was, as the superior who had appointed him expected, the ideal, solid, non adventurous professor, giving a fine example to his students, and always supportive of his superiors. His classical training at the Collge of Grenoble stood him in good stead. He wrote freely in Latin as well as in French. As a preacher he was respected. Eminently practical, a suitable example for his students.
Practical he was, and so, for a period at least, he was bursar to the seminary and that at a time when the seminary was being enlarged to allow for an extension of the course from two years to three. The financial aspects of this should have been no difficulty for this son of a Grenoble business man. The experience he gained in dealing with workers and craftsmen would have a value in the future which just then was not foreseen.
