SOCIETÀ DI MARIA (MARISTS). - Religious congregation founded at Belley by the Venerable Jean-Claude Colin (v.) on 22 June 1825 for the work of parish missions, encouraged in this by Pope Pius VII, who on 25 Jan. 1822 had previously commended the project.
Having overcome considerable difficulties arising from disagreements with his bishop, Msgr. Devie, who wished to make the S. di M. a diocesan congregation, he obtained definitive approval through the brief Omnium gentium of Gregory XVI, 21 Apr. 1836. From its beginnings, the Congregation devoted itself to the Christian education of youth in colleges, preaching in rural areas, and missions in western Oceania, comprising more than 300 islands. Under the direction of the founder (1836-1854) and of his successors, the Congregation developed its works in almost all civilized nations, taking charge of seminaries, founding colleges, residences for preachers, study centres, opening chapels and parishes, and caring for leprosaria in the missions. At present (1952) it has 1,738 professed religious, including an archbishop and 9 bishops, with 307 houses and mission stations. The missions, begun in the Wallis and Futuna Islands and in New Zealand, are constituted in 8 apostolic vicariates: Tonga, Samoa, Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Southern Solomons, Northern Solomons, and Fiji. The General House is in Rome.