SOCIETÀ PER LE MISSIONI ESTERE DI PARIGI. — It is the oldest exclusively missionary Institute, founded in 1660 by the first apostolic vicars of East Asia, PALLIO (v.) and Pietro Lambert de la Motte, and approved by Propaganda on 11 August 1864.
From its foundation it was entrusted with the missions of Siam, Tonkin, Cochinchina, Western China and southern-
SOC. PER LE MISSIONI ESTERE DI PARIGI - PROHIBITED SOCIETIES
…nal; in 1776 the Malabar mission in India was also entrusted to it; in 1831, that of Korea and Japan; in 1841, that of Malacca; in 1848, that of Manchuria; in 1855, that of Burma.
The Society’s particular purpose is the apostolate among infidels. It is a Society without vows, composed of secular priests, who may not accept any assignment in Europe unless they have first spent at least five years in the missions. Since its foundation, the Society has had 120 missionaries massacred, 16 of whom have already been beatified. In 1952 it numbered 930 members, who had made the « bon propos », equivalent to the oath of other societies; 140 seminarians in its two seminaries of philosophy and theology, and about one hundred boys in the minor seminary. In the same year, the Society was working in 28 missions established in Korea, Manchuria, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Siam, Malacca, Burma, and India. Its missionaries also work under the direction of indigenous bishops in nine other missions in Japan, China, Vietnam, and India. During the past twenty-five years, it has transferred fifteen missions in Japan, Korea, Manchuria, China, Vietnam, Siam, and India to the indigenous clergy.
The 37 missions entrusted to the Society cover an area of 3,133,000 sq. km., with a population of 182 million inhabitants, of whom 1,784,000 are Catholics. - Vedi tav. LV.