LUDWIG-MISSIONSVEREIN. – The “Missionary Association of King Ludwig” was founded in 1838 by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, and in 1839 joined the Lyonese Society for the Propagation of the Faith, from which it became independent in 1844 with its own statutes and council and with the right to send money to the missions.
From 1848 it had its own edition of the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith. It devoted particular attention to the diaspora in Germany and to German emigrants in North America. In 1923 it was incorporated as the Bavarian branch of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, while retaining its name. Since 1918 it has published the journal Die Weltmission der katholischen Kirche.
BIBL.: Th. Roemer, The L.-M. and the church in the United States 1838-1918, Washington 1933; W. Mathäser, Der L.-M. in der Zeit König Ludwigs I. von Bayern, Monaco 1939. Giovanni Rommerskirchen