MISSIONARY STATUTES. – Since many missionary jurisdictions are entrusted to religious, numerous relationships arise between the institutes to which the missionaries belong and the missions themselves.
Many rescripts and instructions of the Congreg. of Prop. Fide have dealt with this complex subject since its foundation, and since the last century an attempt has been made to regulate it with regard to certain Orders or religious congregations by means of the S. m., which are a collection of norms determining the rights and duties of the ecclesiastical superiors of the missions and of the superiors general of the respective Orders or religious congregations. When they concern a particular mission, they are called particular; they are general when they regulate relations with all the missions entrusted to an Order or religious congregation. At present, the general S. m. in force are those for the missions entrusted to the Capuchins, Dominicans, Discalced Carmelites, Congr. of the Most Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Society of the Divine Saviour, Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Order of Friars Minor, Society of the Divine Word, Congreg. of the Sons of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Congreg. of the Priests of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Congreg. of the Missionaries of Mariamhill, Belgian Congreg. of the Order of S. Benedict, Congreg. of the Passionist Fathers, Pious Society of S. Francis Xavier, Congreg. of the Holy Cross, Istituto Missioni Consolata, Order of the Holy Cross, Servants of Mary.
The more recent ones have a more uniform arrangement of the subject matter, which generally includes questions concerning the ecclesiastical and religious superiors and their mutual relations, the formation, dispatch, and support of missionaries, as well as the administration and allocation of property between the missions and the religious institute. In some cases, they also discuss the internal organization adopted by the various institutes to promote the advancement of their missions.
Particular mention should be made in this regard of the constitutions of several institutes dependent on Propaganda and devoted exclusively to missionary work. On this matter, however, the instruction of the Congreg. of Prop. Fide of 8 Dec. 1929 is of fundamental importance.