LEOPOLDINEN-STIFTUNG (LEOPOLDINEN-MISSIONSVEREIN). – The Leopoldine Foundation, or Leopoldine Missionary Association, was founded in 1828 (approved in 1829) in Vienna by the then vicar general of Cincinnati, later bishop of Detroit, Federico Rese, and was so named in honor of the empress of Brazil, Archduchess Leopoldina of Austria. It rendered great services to the Catholic Church in North America, above all to the pastoral ministry among German-speaking immigrants in those regions. At present it has merged with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
BIBL.: J. Thuren, Ein Guadenstrom zur Neuen Welt und seine Quelle. Die Leopoldinenstiftung zur Unterstützung der amerikanischen Missionen, Vienna-Mädling 1940.