Society of St Peter (Congrégation de Saint-Pierre)

The Society of St Peter (French: Congrégation de Saint-Pierre), also known as the Brothers of St. Peter, was a religious congregation of men within the Catholic Church, founded in France in 1828 by Abbé Jean-Baptiste de Lamennais. It aimed at the education of youth and the revival of ecclesiastical studies.

The society grew rapidly, attracting many talented individuals. It established schools and seminaries throughout France. Lamennais's evolving political and theological views, leaning towards liberal Catholicism and advocating for a separation of church and state, created increasing tension with the Vatican and the French government.

Due to Lamennais's controversial writings and the condemnation of his doctrines by Pope Gregory XVI in the encyclical Mirari Vos (1832) and Singulari Nos (1834), the Society of St Peter was suppressed by the Pope in 1834. Most members followed the papal directives and abandoned Lamennais, effectively dissolving the congregation. Lamennais himself ultimately broke with the Church.

The Society of St Peter is primarily remembered for its brief but influential period of intellectual and educational activity, and for its connection to the complex and turbulent figure of Félicité de Lamennais.