CONGREGATION OF THE MISSION. - A congregation of secular priests with private and perpetual vows, founded in Paris by St. Vincent de Paul in 1625. In France and also in Italy, the members of the Congregation are ordinarily called Lazarists, from the ancient priory of St. Lazarus; in America Vincentians; in Spain Padres Paules. The archbishop of Paris approved it on 24 April 1626. Urban VIII, with the bull Salvatoris nostri of 12 January 1632, gave pontifical sanction to the new institute. On 8 January 1632 Vincent took possession of the priory of St. Lazarus, offered to him by the prior Adriano Le Bon, which became the mother house and the center of the Vincentian works.
I. ORGANIZATION
The new institute grew rapidly. The work multiplied and its activities expanded; but the precise form of the community was not determined, because the founder wanted the sanction of experience, and twice, in 1642 and in 1651, he convened the older priests for this purpose. A fundamental point is always that the C. did not constitute a religious Order, since the missionaries had to be free from every bond in order to devote themselves to the apostolate. In this sense he obtained from Alexander VII the approval of the vows (the three Ordinary ones, plus the fourth of consecrating oneself for one's whole life to the apostolic ministry) with the brief Ex commissa nobis of 22 Oct. 1655. So that no one might ever think of changing the nature of the community, he also eliminated from its language and customs everything that could recall a religious Order.
The novitiate (two years) was called the internal seminary (to distinguish it from the external or diocesan seminaries); the dress and the manner of life were those of the secular clergy. He prescribed no particular austerities. The exercises of piety are those that a good priest performs every day to nourish his own spiritual life. After thirty years of trial Vincent decided to promulgate the rules of the "Little Company." He distributed the booklet at the meeting of 17 May 1658. From them are drawn the elements that characterize its life, spirit, and works.
The C. is composed of priests and laymen (coadjutor brothers) and has a threefold purpose: personal sanctification, preaching of the Gospel to the poor, especially of the countryside (whence the motto Evangelizare pauperibus misit me which, in the coat of arms of the C., surrounds the Savior preaching), and the formation of the clergy. The missions, according to the founder, must be distinguished by the simple form of preaching and must be given free of charge. For this reason Vincent did not wish to accept the founding of any house without sufficient capital, which would make it possible not to be a burden on the evangelized populations.
The government of the C. is very simple. At its head is a superior general elected for life with 4 assistants from different nations, a procurator and a secretary general. Several houses are united into a religious province under the direction of a visitor assisted by a council of 4 or 5 members and a procurator. Each house is presided over by a superior likewise assisted by his own council. The highest authority in the C. belongs to the general assembly (the "General Chapter" of religious Orders), which meets every 12 years, or even more often, according to needs, and is composed of the members of the central council, the visitors and two delegates for each province. To it belongs the election of the superior general and the assistants, the taking of important decisions regarding disciplinary points, etc. The decrees of the general assemblies are binding on the whole C. During the generalate of René Alméras (1661-72) the so-called "great Constitutions" were drawn up, approved in 1668 by the archbishop of Paris, Hardouin de Péréfixe. Alméras was also the author of the Constitutiones selectae, a compendium of the former, approved by Clement X on 2 June 1670 with the brief Ex iniuncto nobis. During the long government of Giovanni Bonnet (1711-35) the difficult period of Jansenism fell. The C. remained firmly attached to the Holy See, and when the heresy was condemned, Bonnet was unyielding. He expelled from the company men who were otherwise distinguished, such as Himbert and Philopald, demanding of his own an absolute obedience. The principles and rights of the Apostolic See were effectively defended by the superior of the seminary of Avignon, Vittorio Soardi, in the treatise De suprema Romani Pontificis auctoritate (1747).
Felice Cayla, superior general from 1788 to 1800, as a deputy of the clergy to the National Assembly in 1792 voted against the Civil Constitution, which earned him exile and persecution for his community. The missionaries remained, like the superior, faithful to the Church. The consequences were terrible. At the seminary of St. Firmin (the ancient college of the Bons Enfants) Giuseppe François and Enrico Gruyer were massacred (1792; beatified in 1926), Pier Renato Rogue (1796; beatified in 1934) and 10 others guillotined, 7 died in prison, 5 deported; all the houses were closed and the members (824) dispersed. Cayla took refuge in Rome, where he died on 12 Feb. 1800.
The 19th century saw the reflowering and expansion of the C. throughout the world, especially through the work of Giovanni Battista Etienne, superior general from 1843 to 1874, one of the most eminent figures and almost a second founder.
II. DIFFUSION OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE MISSION
At the death of the founder (Sept. 27, 1660) the C. counted 23 houses in France, 53 at the end of the 17th century, risen in 1792 to 98. After the Revolution, which destroyed them, life gradually resumed. In 1816 the C. had already reopened 16 houses, which soon rose to 57. Despite the hard blow inflicted by the subversive laws of 1903, they are today in full flourishing of life both at home and in the Foreign Missions.
In 1646, at the desire of Innocent X, St. Vincent sent his missionaries to Ireland, but Cromwell's persecution in 1648 paralyzed their activity and scattered them. Ireland, Scotland and England saw the priests of the Mission again in the 19th century. At the request of Queen Louise Marie
Gonzaga, St. Vincent in 1651 sent his sons to Poland where they opened some houses. The various dismemberments of the country several times disrupted the organizational structure and the apostolic activity of the missionaries, so that in 1866 only the houses of Cescovia and Culm remained. Today the Polish province is one of the most flourishing with about forty houses at home, in Romania, Brazil, the United States and China.
In Spain they were called by Card. Benedetto de Sala, bishop of Barcelona. The progress was so rapid as to require in 1774 the establishment of an autonomous province. Scattered in the Revolution of 1835, they returned there after the Concordat of 1850. Suppressed again in 1868, they came back to life seven years later. In the Revolution of 1936 the C. gave about forty martyrs. Today the "Padres Paules" have more than 50 houses, and each year provide a good number of apostolic workers to England, to the diocese of Cuttak in India (1922), to the United States, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Honduras.
The other provinces of Europe are those of Belgium (1856) which supports the Congo mission (1926); of Yugoslavia (1852); of Germany (1853), from where because of the laws of the Kulturkampf in 1872 the missionaries were exiled as "affiliated with the Jesuits" and shortly afterwards (as today after the recent war) resumed with indomitable courage the apostolic work; of Austria (1853); of Holland (1880), largely engaged in the mission of Java, in the diocese of Yougpinfu in China and in various residences in Brazil; of Greece (1887); of Hungary (1898) where the Sons of St. Vincent have organized a magnificent network of charitable works; of Romania (1902); of Denmark (1903); of Czechoslovakia, of recent foundation (1929), and already full of vitality, despite the politico-religious difficulties; of Albania (1940), a mission once so flourishing and then cut down with the expulsion of the missionaries in 1945.
The Foreign Missions occupy a privileged place in the C. St. Vincent sent the missionaries to Barbary (1645) and to Madagascar (1648). The latter was abandoned in 1674, but the missionaries returned there in 1896 assuming the direction of the vicariate of Fort Dauphin, which they still hold. Not a few missionaries left their lives in Barbary: some martyrs of the faith, others worn out by work and hardships, but the mission was never abandoned.
In 1656 St. Vincent, urged by Rome, sent the missionaries to Lebanon, from where they then spread into Syria, Palestine, and Egypt.
In 1841 Persia, through the merit of Eugenio Borè, later superior general, opened its doors to the Vincentian apostolate. The superior of the C. from 1840 to 1875 also held the title of apostolic prefect and from 1875 to 1918 that of apostolic delegate. The last Vincentian who occupied that office was Msgr. Sontag, who fell victim to the Kurds with three confreres on July 27, 1918.
The first priest of the C. to go to China, in 1697, was Luigi Antonio Appiani. To him was added Giovanni Mullener (1673-1742) and both settled in Sutcluen. In 1710 Teodorico Pedrini arrived there, a skilled musician, who at the emperor's court rendered great services to the mission. The work of penetration gained more momentum after 1773. Today they govern 12 dioceses. Several missionaries there became famous for virtue and intelligence. Armando David (1826-1900) distinguished himself for discoveries in natural history. The travel books of Evaristo Huc (1813-60) and Giuseppe Gabet (1808-53) in Tibet have made an epoch. Two among the martyrs, Francesco Régis Clet (1748-1820) and Giovanni Gabriele Perbore (1802-40), have been raised to the honors of the altars. In 1780 they took over the direction of the seminary of Goa, where they remained until 1830. In 1922 they accepted the mission of Cuttak, elevated to a diocese in 1938. More recent are the flourishing mission of Java (1928), and the beginnings of those of Annam (1938) and Japan (1948).
In Africa, besides the missions of Barbary and Madagascar, the name of Bl. Giustino de Jacobis (1800-60) remains linked to Abyssinia; with other confreres he arrived there in 1839 and spent his whole life there. Among his disciples he had a martyr, Bl. Ghebre Michael (1788-1855). At his death he left flourishing Christian communities and magnificent works, among them the seminary of the Immaculate Conception of Guala and a fine group of native priests. The mission continued with varying fortunes and amid enormous difficulties, and today besides guarding the tomb of De Jacobis at Hebô, it has houses in various parts of the Ethiopian Empire. Another flourishing mission in Africa is the Belgian Congo (1926).
To another Italian are linked the origins of the C. in America, Felice De Andreis (1778-1820), who with other confreres arrived there in 1816, settling at St. Louis. Now in America there are two provinces, with more than 40 houses and 600 members, which devote themselves to the direction of 12 seminaries, 3 universities, about thirty parishes, missions and the work of retreats. Canada received the Vincentian missionaries in 1933. Mexico promises a sure recovery, after the persecution of 1926. All the nations of Latin America have largely welcomed the Sons of St. Vincent in the last century: Cuba (1847), Guatemala (1862), Puerto Rico (1873), Costa Rica and Panama (1877), El Salvador (1898), Honduras (1910), Nicaragua (1935); moreover Brazil (1819), with ca. 50 houses, Chile (1853), Peru (1858), Argentina (1859), where the famous national sanctuary of Our Lady of Lujan is entrusted to the missionaries, Ecuador and Colombia (1870), Paraguay (1880), Uruguay (1884), Venezuela (1932), Bolivia (1933). And finally the Philippines (1862), where the Vincentian missionaries direct almost all the seminaries, Australia (1855) and New Zealand (1934).
III. THE CONGREGATION OF THE MISSION IN ITALY
The first missionary sent by St. Vincent to Italy in 1638 was Luigi Lebreton, with the task of obtaining from the pope the approval of the C., of which he opened the first house in Rome in 1641. The missionaries, having grown in number, spread through the dioceses around Rome, bringing a wonderful revival of religious life. Through the munificence of the duchess of Aiguillon and of Card. Bagni, in 1659 a "House of the Mission" arose at Montecitorio for retreats for the clergy and especially for ordinands. Alexander VII encouraged them, and in 1662 prescribed that no ordinand could accede to Holy Orders except after a retreat of at least 10 days at the "Mission."
Innocent XII in 1699 extended the obligation of a retreat every three years to the parish priests of Rome. The missionaries of St. Vincent, from 1659 to 1814, had the spiritual direction of the College of Propaganda Fide and from 1703 to 1738 the direction of the Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles. In 1646 Stefano Blatiron (1614-57) founded the house of Genoa, at the request of Card. Stefano Durazzo. Through the work of the marquis of Pianezze, first minister of Piedmont, in 1655 the missionaries established themselves in Turin and thirteen years later, through the initiative of the priest Giovanni B. Balsamo, in Naples.
The foundations in Italy followed at an increasing rate in the following centuries, until they reached 80. At Piacenza Card. Giulio Alberoni in 1732 founded, for the poor seminaries of the diocese, the Alberoni college, which still continues the munificence of its founder. In 1703 the single Italian province was divided into two: Rome and Lombardy; after 1815 that of Naples was added, with 40 houses. The house of Rome, from 1840 the seat of the Pontifical Liturgical Academy, spreads the study of the liturgy by means of the journal Ephemerides liturgicae (founded in 1887 by Calcedonio Mancini); Piacenza contributes to the knowledge of philosophy and theology with Divus Thomas (founded: 1880). These works are completed by the Foreign Missions: the diocese of Kian in China, the mission of Tigrai in Ethiopia and of Korça in Albania. The Italian provinces moreover have various houses in the United States of America for assistance to Italian emigrants.
Italy has given men distinguished for virtue and apostolic zeal. Besides the Bl. Giustino de Jacobis, mention should be made of Giuseppe Rosati, Felice de Andreis, Marcantonio Durando, Vincenzo Spaccapietra and, closer to our own time, Giovanni B. Manzella, the "apostle of Sardinia."
Giovanni Boccardi deserves a very special mention, an astronomer, b. at Castelmauro (Campobasso) on 20 June 1859, d. at Savona (where he had retired, since 1923), on 21 Oct. 1936, having entered the C. of the M. in 1879. As soon as he was a priest (1884) he was sent to the East to teach mathematics in the colleges of Salonica and of Smyrna. During this time he began his first studies of astronomy. Having returned to his homeland (1892), after some years of teaching at Acireale, he moved to the observatory of the Roman college (1897) to learn there the practice of calculating planetary orbits; in 1898 he was added to the Vatican Observatory, two years later (1900) to perfect himself he went to the "Bureau des Longitudes" of Paris and to Berlin. On 10 Nov. of the same year he was appointed assistant and head of section of the observatory of Catania. In 1903, with his appointment as director of the observatory and as professor of astronomy at the University of Turin (1903-1923), the period of his greatest scientific activity begins. He renewed and transferred the old observatory of Palazzo Madama to Pino Torinese (1910-1913). Among the most important discoveries are noted: the observation of the phenomenon that he called the equation of transparency; the tide of the earth's crust due to lunar attraction; the diurnal variation of latitude; new methods for solving the transcendental equations of Kepler and of Gauss. Moreover he has to his credit 30,000 celestial observations, two star catalogues, 14 volumes and 409 among memoirs, notes and articles of scientific synthesis. From 1905 he worked on the Annuario astronomico, which brought Italy into the work of the Effemeridi astronomiche. First among Italians he was a member of the "Bureau des Longitudes" of Paris (1921) and of the "Washington Academy of Sciences" (1928). In 1906 he founded the "Società astronomica italiana" and the "Rivista di astronomia"; but when these two institutions, through the intrigues of Freemasonry, degenerated from their scientific purpose, he abandoned them and gave life (1911) to the "Urania" society and to the journal Saggi di astronomia popolare, which he directed until 1917 (cf. Annali d. missione, 44 [1937], pp. 37-48 and 475-504, with the list of works).
From the C. depend some noted and important associations such as the Ladies of Charity, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, etc. Directly linked to the C. is, by institution sanctioned by pontifical authority, the Company of the Daughters of Charity, whose superior is the same superior general of the C.
As of 1 Jan. 1949 the C. is divided into 37 provinces with 456 houses, 5299 subjects, 105 seminaries, 90 retreat houses, 170 parishes, 150 schools.
Bibliography6 works
Annibale Bugnini