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==Henri Le Floch writing ==
When the [[Third French Republic|French government]] exerted control over religious orders under the Associations Act of 1 July 1901, it threatened the order with dissolution unless it could document its origins.<ref>{{cite book|title=Report of the Commissioner of Education 1900–1901|date=1 September 1903|publisher=The United States Bureau of Education|page=1106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cu4zAQAAMAAJ&q=all+associations,+secular|access-date=2 August 2016|chapter=Education in France}}</ref>{{efn|The 1901 Law of Associations, which on its face guaranteed freedom of association, established a distinct [[:fr:Congrégation_religieuse_en_droit_français|regime for religious congregations]] aimed at limiting their influence on education.}} The superior general of the Holy Ghost Fathers, Bishop [[Alexandre Le Roy]], asked Le Floch to research the founding of the order in 1703 by [[Claude-François Poullart des Places]]. The order had come close to extinction in the early nineteenth century. It survived by being integrated into a congregation with a similar commitment to missionary work, the Society of the Holy Heart of Mary, founded by [[Francis Libermann]] in 1842. The two congregations were joined under the name of Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Until Le Floch's research, the Holy Ghost Fathers had regarded Libermann, whose life was well documented and whose writings they knew well, as their founder. Le Floch's research both satisfied the French government's requirements and gave the order a second founder as inspiration.<ref name=spiritans/><ref>{{cite book | access-date =
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