Members of the Society, based in Pontigny, fled to the United States through Montreal, Canada in 1889 after widespread anticlericalism seized France. The Society of St. Edmund settled in
Winooski,
Vermont, and established
Saint Michael's College in 1904. The original motherhouse is at Pontigny, but since the expulsion of the religious institutes the superior general first moved to
Hitchin,
England. The Edmundites gave up both the school and the parish in Hitchin in 1925 due to financial difficulties, relinquishing control to the
Congregation of Augustinians of the Assumption. In the early 20th century, the congregation had two houses in the United States: a missionary house and apostolic school at
Swanton, Vermont, for the training of young men who wish to study for the priesthood and the religious life; and
Saint Michael's College in
Colchester, Vermont, with 12 fathers, 8 scholastics, and 100 pupils. Saint Michael's College has since expanded to 2,000 undergraduates and 650 graduate students. In 1937 the Society turned to the missions of
African Americans, mainly in Alabama, thanks to Fr Francis "Frank" Casey. During the
Civil rights movement and the lead up to the
Selma to Montgomery marches, the Society was the only white group in
Selma who openly supported the voting rights campaign.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee staff member Don Jelinek later described this order as "the unsung heroes of the Selma March... who provided the only integrated Catholic church in Selma, and perhaps in the entire
Deep South". In 1953, a Mrs. Alys VanGilder Enders gifted the 11 acres of
Enders Island near
Mystic, Connecticut to the then superior general of the Society, Fr Jeremiah Purtill, and there the Edmundites today operate a retreat center and art school. In 2022, the congregation announced it would enter completion, no longer accepting new candidates. == References ==