SOCIETÀ DELL'APOSTOLATO CATTOLICO (PALLOTTINI). - An exempt priestly society without vows, founded in Rome on 4 Apr. 1835 by the Blessed Vincenzo Pallotti.
Incorporation is effected by a public consecration containing six promises: perseverance, obedience, chastity, poverty, common life, and the refusal of dignities. There are 2 years of novitiate. The rector general is elected for 6 years; provincial and local rectors for 3 years. Its purpose is the education and formation of apostolic souls and the direction of the Association of the Catholic Apostolate. From 1837, and permanently from 1843, the priestly Congregation of the Catholic Apostolate emerged from the rest of the society, composed of laymen and priests, constituting its central and driving part. The Holy See definitively approved the Constitutions in 1910. Called from 1854 to 1947 the Pious Society of Missions, the Institute, since 1947, has been designated S. dell'A. C.; it has been entrusted with 5 missions (Africa, Australia, India), and as of 31 Dec. 1950 consisted of 16 provinces or regions, with 247 houses or stations, 899 priests, 492 clerics, and 447 lay brothers.