MISSIONARI DI NOSTRA SIGNORA DELL'ASANTA GUARDIA. - Congregation of secular third-order Minim priests, founded in 1700 by Fr. Aless. Martin (1630-1703), parish priest of S. Desiderio in the diocese of Carpentras, Provence, in collaboration with Fr. Domenico Bertet (1671-1739), who became its first superior, and with Fr. G. d'Ettienne, a Minim (1637-1712), a staunch supporter of the Institute, author of its first regulations, and the first to direct its spiritual life.
The purpose of the Congregation was the formation of numerous and zealous priests, with a model seminary, courses in missions in cities and countryside, and spiritual exercises for the laity and clergy. Approved by the Archbishop of Avignon on 6 January 1719, Benedict XIV approved its new rules with the bull *Universalis* of 11 March 1743. The Congregation spread rapidly and produced learned prelates of distinction in France, including several archbishops and cardinals. The French Revolution swept it away in its turmoil, but no member of the Institute took the oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. At that time it moved to Italy with the help of Cardinal Maury, a former member of the Congregation and later Bishop of Montefiascone. Various attempts to rebuild it in France proved fruitless, and the early 20th century saw the definitive demise of this institution, which had strenuously opposed the heresies raging at the time and worked for the religious revival of France.