DOCTRINARIES. - Congregation founded in 1592 by the ven. Cesare De Bus (v. BUS, CÉSAR de); it is the result of the three Congregations of Christian doctrine: the Roman or Agatist, the Neapolitan, and the Avignon one.
The Roman Congregation has its origin in the Company of Christian doctrine that arose in Rome in 1560 through the work of Fr. Enrico Pietra, a disciple of St. Philip Neri, and of the Milanese nobleman Marco Cusani, who in 1571, together with other priests, began the common life near S. Giovanni della Malva. In 1575 Gregory XIII assigned them the church of S. Agata in Trastevere. In 1598 the Company divided: the priests living in community constituted themselves as a congregation; the lay members, on the other hand, formed a confraternity.
The Neapolitan Congregation, founded between 1610 and 1620 at Laurito, diocese of Capaccio, by the priests Filippo Romanelli, Andrea Brancaccio and Pompeo Monfort, had a period of prosperity, with houses and colleges in many towns of the Neapolitan area, but it soon declined.
The Congregation of France, founded in 1592 at Avignon by the ven. Cesare De Bus, spread rapidly until it had more than 60 houses and colleges, especially in the south and west of France. The general resided in Paris. It had been conceived as a pious society of secular priests without vows, who, some years after the founder's death (1607), joined the Somaschi while preserving their own activity and recognizing De Bus as founder and master; but that union lasted until 1647. In 1659 it obtained permission to emit the simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, with the vow or oath of perseverance. In 1683 the province of Avignon founded a first house at Sospello in Savoy, in 1686 it opened another at Ivrea, in 1700 it penetrated into central Italy with various houses and colleges, one of them in Rome at the church of S. Nicola degli Incoronati.
In 1725 Benedict XIII detached the houses of Italy from the province of Avignon and united them with the Neapolitan Congregation of Christian doctrine, thus giving origin to the Roman province of the Congregation of Avignon, with the provincial's seat in Rome at the church of S. Maria in Monticelli.
In 1747 Benedict XIV united the Roman province of the Congregation with that of France. Thus the Neapolitan and Roman Congregations disappeared, and only that of Avignon remained. All the D. of Italy accepted the constitutions of the Congregation of France and recognized the ven. Cesare de Bus "as sole master and founder." The provinces of Italy, although living "under the obedience of the superior general" who resided in Paris, had an almost autonomous organization, so that the French Revolution, which destroyed the Congregation in France, did not harm the houses of Italy, which in 1842 obtained to have a superior general with residence in Rome. After the suppression of 1870, the Congregation regained vigor and in 1947 was able to begin new foundations also in South America. Today it has 8 houses with 65 religious.