PRIESTS OF THE STIGMATA OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. — They began in Verona on 4 Nov. 1816 as a private association of secular priests for the free operation of a school of charity, which developed into a secondary school, and for every kind of ecclesiastical ministry ad nutum episcopi; but for the founder, Ven. G. Bertone, and his first companions, it was a religious congregation directed toward a free apostolate of apostolic missionaries.
It received the decree of praise on 16 Apr. 1855, and approval of the Institute and of the Constitutions on 15 Sept. 1890 and 23 June 1925. Its special purpose is ecclesiastical ministry and the Christian and civic education of youth. Thanks to a recent revival, it can today number about 500 active members, while about as many are being trained in the apostolic schools of its three provinces: Italian, North American, and Brazilian. In 1926 it undertook the Chinese mission of Vilsien, now an apostolic prefecture. Besides the ministry of preaching, it has parishes, schools of various kinds, including state-recognized ones, colleges, boarding houses, and other works on behalf of youth, all distributed among about 50 houses. The Italian province has begun a foundation in France; the North American province has a minor seminary and a High School in the apostolic vicariate of the island of Guam in the Pacific, while the Brazilian province likewise has certain aspects of missionary activity of its own.