AUGUSTINIANS OF THE ASSUMPTION (Assumptionists; Pia Societas Presbyterorum ab Assumptione). - Religious congregation founded in 1845 by Fr. Emmanuel d'Alzon (v.). Its chief purpose is to work for the restoration of higher education according to the principles of St. Augustine, to combat the enemies of the Church organized in secret societies, and to strive for the unity of the Church. To carry out this vast program the founder wished his sons to be at the same time modern and monastic: modern, in their readiness to undertake whatever can contribute to the spread of the Kingdom of God (it should be remembered that the A. were the initiators of the movement of the great pilgrimages to Lourdes, Rome, and Jerusalem), especially through the press; monastic, because they link themselves, as far as possible, to the monastic tradition, with common life, the choral office, etc.
After the death of d'Alzon, Fr. François Picard, his successor, gave a vigorous impulse to the young congregation, developing in a particular way the missions of the East and the good press. But Freemasonry showed its hostility toward the A. from the very beginning, denouncing them as excessively combative monks, and in 1900 it pushed the government to dissolve them, deceitfully declaring that only thus would it be possible to save the other congregations. In 1903, Fr. Emmanuel Bailly succeeded Fr. Picard, during whose generalate (1903-17) a new flourishing of the Congregation is seen.
Since 1946 it has been divided into seven provinces. Three of these have their center in France: Paris, Lyon, and Bordeaux; the other four are constituted as follows: Belgium, Holland, England, North America. To the provinces of Lyon, Bordeaux, and Belgium, Holland, and North America is joined a territory of expansion or mission, that is, a "vicariate": Lyon with the Near East, Russia, Manchuria, and North Africa; Bordeaux with Latin America; Holland with its own missions in Brazil; Belgium with the Belgian Congo and Colombia; North America with Mexico. At present the Congregation has 1,800 religious.
For many years, the A. labored in the East, where they founded schools, colleges, and seminaries for the formation of the local clergy. In 1897, in the heart of Istanbul, they inaugurated an oriental seminary for priests of the Greek rite. At Plovdiv (Bulgaria), religious of the Slav rite direct the seminary and the united Catholic parish. At Yambol too the A. have a Slav parish alongside the Latin one. Since 1924 they have been established in Romania: at Bucharest, Blaj, and Beiuș there is a good number of religious of the Eastern rite. The Institute of Byzantine Studies, founded in 1895 by the Assumptionist Msgr. Louis Petit, then superior of the monastery of Chalcedon and in 1912 Latin archbishop of Athens, is still a true cenacle of Byzantine studies, with its scholarly journal, Les Echos d'Orient, intended to make the separated Christians better known. A rich library of rare books, all relating to Christian East, has been built up there through indefatigable work. Among the works published by those religious we recall L'Eglise byzantine de 527 à 547, by Fr. G. Pargoire (Paris 1905); Theologia dogmatica christianorum orientalium ab Ecclesia catholica dissidentium, 5 vols., by Fr. M. Jugie (Paris, from 1926 to 1935); Le Schisme Byzantin by the same author (Paris 1941); Praxis Missionarii in Oriente servata, by Fr. R. Souarn (Paris 1908). Having moved to Bucharest, the Institute works on the Régestes du Patriarcat de Constantinople, and publishes its journal under the new title of Etudes Byzantines.
Bibliography3 works
Romualdo Souarn