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Oblates of the Holy Spirit

Roman Catholic religious congregation for women

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ655989 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Oblates of the Holy Spirit (Italian: Suore Oblate dello Spirito Santo; Latin: Institutum Oblatarum Spiritus Sancti; abbreviation: O.S.S.) is a religious institute of pontifical right whose members profess public vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience and follow the evangelical way of life in common. Their mission includes education of youth, catechetical and pastoral activities.

The Oblates of the Holy Spirit was founded in Lucca, Italy, in 1882, by Bl. Elena Guerra.

The sisters now have houses in Cameroon, Canada, Italy, Philippines, and Rwanda.

The Generalate of the Congregation is located in Rome, Italy. As of 31 December 2008, there were 232 sisters in 36 communities.

Pope Pius X issued a pontifical decree of coronation on 9 September 1904 granted to Mother Superior Elena Guerra to impose a diadem of stars towards their venerated image of the Blessed Virgin of the Immaculate Conception for the 50th Anniversary of the Marian Jubilee of 1904, enshrined in their monastery. This decree was signed and executed by Cardinal Casimiro Gennari, and notarized by the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, Monsigneur Archbishop Diomede Panici.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Oblates of the Holy Spirit” is roman Catholic religious congregation for women. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Oblates, Holy and Spirit, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1882, 2008, 1904—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1882-11-04. For this dossier, Oblates, Holy and Spirit is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “roman Catholic religious congregation for women” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q655989. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1882, 2008 and 1904.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Oblates of the Holy Spirit”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Oblates of the Holy Spirit primary sources, Oblates of the Holy Spirit archive and Oblates research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Oblates of the Holy Spirit”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Oblates of the Holy Spirit” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.