PORTUGUESE SOCIETY FOR CATHOLIC MISSIONS. - Its specific purpose is religious assistance and evangelization in the Portuguese overseas dioceses, and also in other missionary regions to which it may extend its activity.
It was founded through the express desire and intervention of the Holy See (cf. Secretariat of State of the Holy See, prot. 3207/1930; AAS, 25 [1933], pp. 150-51; 32 [1940], pp. 249-70). It depends on the S. Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. Its Constitutions were drawn up and published in Rome by the Tip. Poliglotta Vaticana in 1930. In 1932, after the prescribed year of probation, the first members took the oath required by the Constitutions. In Portugal the Society has three houses of formation: Tomar, Gernache do Bonjardin, and Cucujães (where the General Directorate resides). Members (Jan. 1952): professed 75 (of whom 41 priests); novices 13; aspirants (gymnasium and lyceum) 205. It has 28 missionaries in Africa, in Mozambique (dioceses of Nampula and Lourenço Marques). It is officially recognized by the Portuguese government (cf. Diario do Governo, 16 May 1941). It has various publications for missionary propaganda. Domenico Marques Vaz