Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception

The Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception are members of an institute of consecrated life founded in France in 1871, which follows the Augustinian Rule, and is part of the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine. They use the postnominal initials of C.R.I.C.

Adrien Gréa was born on February 18, 1828, and studied law at L’École des Chartes in Paris, where he became friends with Frederic Ozanam, the founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He later took a doctorate in theology at the Sapientia University, and was ordained to the sacred priesthood on September 20, 1856.

The congregation was founded at Saint-Claude, in the Department of Jura, by Adrien Gréa, then a secular priest and the young Vicar General of the Diocese of St.-Claude, a position he had accepted in 1863 at the bishop's urging, despite his feeling called to life in a religious community.

Through his position of authority in the diocese, Gréa came to see many of the troubles experienced in the lives of its clergy. He came to attribute much of the problem to the isolation of their lives, even when sharing a rectory. Having studied Church history while preparing for his ordination as a priest, he felt that a solution could be found in the communal lives of the canons regular, who combine a monastic way of life with the pastoral care of the secular clergy. He then determined to commit himself to that way of life.

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