RAUZAN, JEAN-BAPTISTE. - Founder of the Congregation of the Priests of Mercy, b. at Bordeaux on 5 Dec. 1757, d. at Paris on 5 Sept. 1847.
He first taught theology and sacred eloquence at the seminary of his native city; then, appointed vicar general of the diocese, he promoted a strong movement to save the faith among the French people. For this reason he was invited by Cardinal Archbishop Flesh to Lyon, where in 1808 R. gathered around himself a good number of zealous priests, forming from them the Association of the Missionaries of France. The fruit of their preaching in the diocese of Troyes won them the esteem and the support of the government; but the struggle between Napoleon I and Pius VII forced the Association to disband. It took up again in 1814, when R. recalled his first collaborators, to whom new recruits were added, and missions were preached in the principal French cities, in which the Works of St. Genevieve and the Association of the Ladies of Providence were founded. At this time R. founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Clotilde for the education of girls. In 1830, the missionaries having been dispersed by the revolution, R. came to Rome, and, encouraged and authorized by Gregory XVI, he founded the new Congregation of the Priests of Mercy, which received the brief of approval with its Constitutions on 18 Febr.
1834, and that of affiliation to the Congr. of Propaganda on 15 March of the same year. The founder was able to see his institution introduced also in several dioceses of the United States.
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