XAVERIUSVEREIN. - The first alms for the work of the Propagation of the Faith, founded in 1822 in Lyon, were collected in Germany from 1827. The physician Heinrich Hahn of Aachen worked to introduce the work in Germany. In 1837 he obtained approval for a Confraternity of St. Francis Xavier, which was then transformed in 1842, with ecclesiastical and state permission, into the "Franziskus-X." association, a prayer and aid society for the missions.
Hahn remained until his death in 1882 as secretary and agent of the association. From Aachen, the Xaveriusverein soon spread to several dioceses in Germany and eventually to all of them, with the exception of the Bavarian dioceses (v. LUDWIG-MISSIONSVEREIN). In 1917, a new organization was established, expanding the administrative council into a general presidency with 12 priest and lay members, and the creation of a general secretary, the institution of diocesan advisors, and propagandistic activity especially through the journal *Weltmission der katholischen Kirche*. In 1922, the Xaveriusverein was incorporated into the Pontifical Work of the Propagation of the Faith, transferred from France to Rome. The center of the Xaveriusverein is also that of the Missionary Union of the Clergy and the St. Peter’s Work; a missionary museum was also established there.