SOCIETÀ PER LE MISSIONI ESTERE DEGLI STATI UNITI D'AMERICA (di MA-RYKNOLL). — Founded on 27 Apr. 1911 by the episcopate of the United States of America and authorized by Bl. Pius X on 29 June of the same year.
The co-founders were Fr. James A. Walsh (1867–1936), who later became titular Bishop of Sion and first Superior General of the Society, and Fr. Thomas F. Price (1860–1919), who began the work at Hawthorne (New York) and on 18 Sept. 1912 moved to Ossining (New York), which they named Maryknoll.
The Society received its decree of praise on 15 July 1915. In 1917 the first missionaries departed for China. Today missionaries are present in Africa, China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. The Constitutions were definitively approved on 7 May 1939. The members number 477 priests, 81 clerical students, and 86 lay brothers.