Pontifical Missionary Works

OPERE PONTIFICIE MISSIONARIE. -

I. LEGAL NATURE

The P. O. M. [Pontifical Missionary Works] are pious associations (v.) of the faithful with the purpose of aiding the missions by means of prayer and offerings, and whose members, in accordance with the statutes, must be regularly enrolled and must fulfill the conditions established in order to enjoy the rights and indulgences granted (cf. cann. 684-99). For the P. O. of the Propagation of the Faith, material enrollment in the registers of the work is not required (AAS, 28 [1932], p. 326; 20 [1928], p. 109), and in the P. O. of the Holy Childhood children up to the 12th year are enrolled as a rule (cf. can. 693 § 3).

At present these are: the P. O. of the Propagation of the Faith, the P. O. of St. Peter the Apostle for the native clergy, and the P. O. of the Holy Childhood. To these may be added the P. Association of Catholic Women and Girls for the Missions. The Missionary Union of the Clergy, although not pontifical, is by its purpose intimately linked to the first three works indicated.

1. Coordination

a) Central. - The P. O. of the Holy Childhood has its central headquarters in Paris, and its general direction is not coordinated with the other P. O. M. The P. O. of the Propagation of the Faith since 1922 (Pius XI, motu proprio Romanorum Pontificum, 3 May 1922, AAS, 14 [1922], pp. 322-30), and the P. O. of St. Peter the Apostle for the native clergy since 1929 (Pius XI, motu proprio Ver ad summi, 24 June 1929, AAS, 21 [1929], pp. 345-349), have instead their central headquarters in Rome at the S. Congreg. de Propaganda Fide. Their coordination was immediately regulated by the motu proprio Decessor noster*, 24 June 1929 (AAS, 21 [1929], pp. 342-45). Following the institution of the International Secretariat of the Missionary Union of the Clergy, it was revised according to the provisions approved by Pius XI on 9 March 1937 and published by decree of the same S. Congreg. of Propaganda on 14 Apr. 1937 (AAS, 29 [1938], pp. 476-77).

The aforementioned documents regulate the directive coordination of the P. O. of the Propagation of the Faith and of St. Peter the Apostle and of the International Secretariat of the Missionary Union of the Clergy. It is regulated in the following manner. The secretary general of the S. Congreg. of Propaganda is at the same time president general of the P. O. of the Propagation of the Faith and of St. Peter the Apostle and of the International Secretariat of the Missionary Union of the Clergy. The secretaries general of these three institutions are by right counselors in their respective general councils. Above the three general councils stands the supreme directing committee, which consists of the president general of the two P. O. M. and of the International Secretariat of the Missionary Union of the Clergy, of the three secretaries general, and of one counselor for each of the three institutions, chosen by the respective general councils. At the head of the supreme directing committee stands the president, who convokes it ordinarily every two months and whenever he deems it opportune. Every decision must be referred to the cardinal prefect of Propaganda for approval. This directive coordination was followed also by administrative coordination, by decree of 17 Nov. 1939. It was established that, at least once a year, one or more experts, appointed by the same S. Congregation, should carry out a revision of the administration of the three superior councils, without prejudice to the action of the respective auditors or revisers of accounts. b) National. - In every nation the coordination between the Missionary Union of the Clergy and the P. O. M. is achieved through the National Committee composed of the national directors and secretaries of the aforementioned institutions. The president, who is appointed by and from among the members of the Committee, holds office for three years and may be re-elected.

II. PONTIFICAL WORK OF THE PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH

Pauline Jaricot (v.) at the beginning had the idea of the Work of the Propagation of the Faith as a means of national reparation for France. From various quarters, and especially from the United States, the erection of works in favor of particular missions was being urged. Monsieur Benoît Coste, a stockbroker and president or "pro tempore" prefect of the Lay Congregation of the Foreign Missions of Paris, to whom these requests were addressed, advised instead the erection of a single association in favor of all Catholic missions. Philéas, the brother of Jaricot, although a member of the Congregation, and aided by the priest Rondot, was unable to overcome Coste's resistance, and so he turned to his sister.

In 1817 the Seminary of the Foreign Missions had published a pamphlet on the association of prayers in favor of the establishments destined to propagate the faith. The association was approved by pontifical indult of 30 Nov. 1817. In 1818 Jaricot began to recruit members for the association, who also gave one or two pennies every Friday for the children of China. In other cities too the members of the Association, besides prayers, gave a penny a week for the missions. All the offerings were sent to Paris. Every guarantee for the future was lacking, however, and Philéas expressed to his sister the missionaries' anxieties over the Association's deficiencies. In Oct. 1819 he entered the minor Seminary of the Argentière (Paris) to study philosophy and continued to be the bond of union between his sister and the Seminary of the Foreign Missions of Paris, begging her to organize the collection on a permanent and automatic basis. On an evening in the autumn of 1819 Pauline had the intuition of the definitive plan of the Work of the Propagation of the Faith.

At the beginning of 1820 the plan was approved by her confessor and immediately put into execution in Lyons and its surroundings. Difficulties were not lacking. The money was sent to Philéas, who paid it over to the Seminary of the Foreign Missions. Toward the end of 1820 Angelo Inglesi arrived in France, vicar general of Msgr. L. Dubourg, bishop of Louisiana (1766-1833). On 3 May 1822 a meeting was held, attended by the priests Cholletton and Inglesi, Coste, Henri-Didier Petit and others: twelve in all. The purpose was to reconcile the different points of view concerning the Works in favor of the missions and to establish whether it was advisable to institute various associations for different missions or a single one for all. This was Coste's idea, and he proposed that the work of Jaricot be given a character of universality. The proposal was well received and the provisional Council of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith was immediately instituted, adopting Jaricot's plan together with other elements of her Work. In this way the conflicts disappeared, which could have harmed the development of Jaricot's work, which thus came to be promoted by fervent and wealthy persons.

The work immediately spread in France and abroad. In Italy it was introduced by the Marquis Cesare d'Azeglio (v.), who made it known through his review: L'Amico d'Italia. By the motu proprio Romanorum Pontificum (3 May 1922) its central seat was transferred to Rome and new statutes were given, according to which the national Councils depend on the superior general Council of Rome, and on these depend the diocesan Committees and the parish Commissions. The International Fides Agency (v.) depends on the superior general Council. In 1926 the Missionary Day was instituted, on the next-to-last Sunday of October, for the collection of offerings for the missions.

The purpose of the Work, in fact, is to help the missions by prayer and by offerings. Since 1923 it has published the "Acta," which are now common also to the P.O. of St. Peter the Apostle (since 1930) and to the International Secretariat of the Missionary Union of the Clergy (since 1938). At present they bear the title Acta Cooperationis missionariae Sanctae Sedis.

Saverio Paventi

III. PONTIFICAL WORK OF THE HOLY CHILDHOOD

Its founder was Msgr. Charles de Forbin-Janson (1785-1844), bishop of Nancy. On his return from a journey to the United States and Canada (1849) he conceived the idea of combating infanticide in non-Christian countries. In 1842 he had a conversation in Lyon with Pauline Jaricot (v.) and it seems that it was then that the idea matured of interesting the children of Europe in the fate of Chinese children, inviting them to contribute one sou a month. Perhaps he had heard speak of the Angelic Work, founded in China by the missionary Fr. Jean-Martin Moye.

On May 19, 1843, the first Central Council of the Work called that of the Holy Childhood was constituted in Paris, with reference to the infancy of Jesus. At the end of June of the same year Msgr. De Forbin-Janson sent a circular to the entire French episcopate to inform it of the erection of the new Work. On May 19, 1844, Propaganda, in a letter addressed to the founder, fully approved the idea, although it was opposed by some because it was believed useless, indeed harmful, to the Work of the Propagation of the Faith and to other local and diocesan works. From 1846 onward the Popes enriched it with many spiritual favors and Pius XI decorated it with the title of pontifical (encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae [1926] and motu proprio Decessor Noster and Vix ad summi [1929]). Pius XII in the encyclical Quaemadmodum of Jan. 6, 1946, speaking of the duty to care for indigent children, recalled the Work, and with the letter Praeses consilii, of Dec. 4, 1950, he instituted the Day of the Holy Childhood.

At the beginning the Work of the Holy Childhood was directed by a president bishop and by a director, always a priest. In 1872 the two offices were united in the person of a single ecclesiastical director, who is assisted, as in the past, by a council composed of ecclesiastics and laymen. For several years the delegates of the principal countries, more generous toward the Work, have also participated in the Council. In each nation it depends on the national director, who may be the same as that of the other P. M. W., on whom the diocesan directors depend, who attend to its organization in the parishes and in educational institutions.

Children up to the age of 12 may belong to the P. W. of the Holy Childhood, reciting every day a Hail Mary with the invocation: "Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, pray for us and for the poor non-Christian children" and giving the offering for the purpose of the Work. The purpose is twofold: to stir up in children the love of the missions and to procure for their non-Christian peers the grace of Baptism and a Christian education. Persons who have passed the twelfth year of age may belong to it as aggregated members.

In many parts, from the beginning of the Work, the feast of the Holy Childhood is celebrated, which consists in gathering the children on a day of the Christmas season. Such a feast, according to the official interpretation given by Propaganda to the aforementioned letter of Dec. 4, 1950, can be considered as the Day of the Holy Childhood.

The Central Directorate publishes a bimonthly bulletin and has its seat in Paris.

Saverio Paventi

IV. PONTIFICAL WORK OF ST. PETER THE APOSTLE FOR THE NATIVE CLERGY

In 1889 a policy of religious tolerance was inaugurated in Japan. The few Christians who had survived centuries of persecution and danger formed a small but promising community. The vicar apostolic of Nagasaki immediately understood the need to form a native clergy. Vocations were not lacking, but the means were. He therefore wrote, on June 1, 1889, to Mrs. Stefania Cottin, widow Bigard, and to her daughter Giovanna Alessandrina Bigard to ask for help on behalf of the seminary. The Bigards immediately decided to beg from door to door and devoted their activity to the Work of the Native Clergy.

Leo XIII's encyclical of June 24, 1893, Ad extremas Orientis oras, on the seminaries of India, immediately dispelled many doubts and gave the new Work an indirect approval. Later it took the title of Work of St. Peter the Apostle for the Native Clergy. On July 12, 1895

Leo XIII, having reviewed the report on the Work drawn up by Mother Bigard, sent his first blessings, enriching it with many indulgences. On Oct. 13, 1895, the bishop of Séez approved it, and the regular council was established, comprising the Bigards and two other young ladies. On Sept. 10, 1896, Propaganda encouraged the initiative. Since recognition of the Work had not been obtained from the French government, it was transferred to Fribourg in Switzerland. After the death of Mother Bigard (1903), the Work was entrusted to the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary. On Apr. 28, 1920, the S. C. of Propaganda Fide took it under its direct dependence. By the motu proprio Vix ad summi of June 24, 1920, the central seat was moved to Rome and it was given an organization similar to that of the O. P. of the Propagation of the Faith. Its purpose is to assist the S. C. of Propaganda in the formation of the indigenous clergy, also subsidizing the construction of seminaries in the missions. Monetary contributions are collected by means of annual dues, collections, and the system of adoptions, individual and collective, and of scholarships.

Saverio Paventi