PORTUGUESE SOCIETY FOR CATHOLIC MISSIONS. — Its specific purpose is the religious assistance and evangelization in the Portuguese overseas dioceses, and also in other missionary regions to which it may extend its action.
It was founded at the express desire and intervention of the Holy See (cf. Secretariat of State of H.H., prot. 3207/1930; AAS, 25 [1933], pp. 150-151; 32 [1940], pp. 249-270). It depends on the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. The Constitutions were drawn up and published in Rome by the Vatican Polyglot Press in 1930. In 1932, after the statutable year of probation, the first members took the oath prescribed by the Constitutions. The Society has in Portugal three houses of formation: Tomar, Gernache do Bonjardin, and Cucujães (where the General Direction 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.