AMIS DES MISSIONS, Les. - An association founded on 12 Dec. 1923, on the initiative of Giorgio Goyau and the Jesuit Fr. Piolet, with the aim of making the missions, especially the French ones, known to the general public and, when necessary, of defending and recommending them; in short, of creating around them an atmosphere of sympathy and interest, by promoting the study of their history and methods through a large specialized library, communications to the press, lectures, and various publications, including a major
quarterly journal, a series of memoirs and historical documents, etc. The A. d. M. were responsible for the establishment of a chair of mission history at the Catholic Institute of Paris, whose first holder was precisely the academician G. Goyau, who was succeeded by Paul Lesourd. The journal (Revue d'Histoire des Missions), published in Paris from June 1924, ceased publication with the Second World War.