Fr. Louis Querbes, W. Corbeil, CSV

Our founder was Father Louis Querbes (1793-1859), pastor of the small town of Vourles, near Lyon, France. Born in the midst of the French revolution, he was first taught by a lay Christian educator with whom he maintained a life-long friendship.

Louis Querbes is in the spiritual line of pastors such as St. Jean Marie Vianney (the Curé of Ars) and founders of religious communities such as Jean-Claude Colin (Marist Fathers) and Marcellin Champagnat (Marist Brothers) with whom he studied in the semninary.

Louis Querbes was particularly sensitive to the religious needs of his time. In a France becoming de -Christianized, he was challenged by the lack of competent religious educators and catechists to intstruct young people in the poorest of the rural parishes.

He wanted to provide companions and co-workers to the pastors of isolated parishes so he founded an association of lay catechists who would help by providing Christian education for the children and support for the liturgy. Unlike other  religious communities of his day, he was willing to send his catechists one by one to assist the rural clergy.

This association became the The Clerics of St. Viator, dedicated to the education of young people. The reach of Louis Querbes extended not only to France but also to foreign lands where he sent his "clerics."