Spirituality & Formation

The Company of St. René Goupîl is an apostolate of pilgrims founded in March 1998 by the late Robert W. Murray and by Pilgrimage founder Greg Lloyd (also by “Cuzn’ Robert Lamanque in 1999 – R.I.P.) to provide material assistance to fellow-pilgrims of the annual Pilgrimage for Restoration to the Shrine of Our Lady’s Martyrs at Auriesville, NY.

Members of the Company exercise charity in imitation of St. René Goupîl, offering their services voluntarily as works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal, ad majorem Dei gloriam.

The Company is composed of lay men and women who have reached the age of 16 and whose application has been accepted. Work for the Pilgrimage for Restoration is conducted under the direction of Company and Pilgrimage officials. Membership endures for one year, and must be renewed annually by application.

Spiritual formation is ongoing. Basis of the spirit & formation of the Company is St. Isaac Jogues’s letter, written under obedience, giving an account of the martyrdom of the Company’s blessed Patron.

The spiritual Father (or chaplain) of the Company until recently was the ever-ready & generous Fr. James Doran, OMV. (Father has had to step back from responsibilities due to persistent illness.)

Father Evaristus Eshiowu and Father Joseph Favole, both of the Fraternity of St. Peter, have very generously filled in since 2018. Fr. Favole currently (2020 A.D.) serves as chaplain to the Co.

All volunteers accepted into the Company are to keep a copy of the letter of St. Isaac Jogues to his Jesuit superior explaining the life and martyrdom of St. René.

Since members of the Company are to seek to live the spirit of their Blessed Patron, each is expected to pray regularly for the intentions of the apostolate and to study the letter of St. Isaac.

A second(ary) Patron of the Company is also a Patron of the Pilgrimage: the Servant-Brave of God Joseph Chihwahtenwha, called by his spiritual Father, St. Jean de Brébeuf, “the pillar of the Church in North America”. Company members can study this account of this blessed Huron’s life as an exemplar of the lay apostle living according to the spirit and rule of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

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