XAVERIUSVEREIN. - The first alms for the work of the Propagation of the Faith, founded in 1822 at Lyon, were collected in Germany from 1827 onward. The physician Heinrich Hahn of Aachen worked to introduce the work into Germany. In 1837 he obtained approval for a Confraternity of St. Francis Xavier, which was subsequently transformed in 1842, with ecclesiastical and state authorization, into the «Franziskus-X.», an association of prayers and aid for the missions.
Hahn remained secretary and agent of the association until his death in 1882. From Aachen the X. soon spread to various dioceses of Germany and eventually to all of them, with the exception of the Bavarian dioceses (v. LUDWIG-MISSIONSVEREIN). In 1917 a new organization was established through the enlargement of the administrative council, which was changed into a general presidency with 12 priests and laymen as members, and through the creation of a general secretariat, the establishment of diocesan councillors, and propaganda activity, especially by means of the journal Weltmission der katholischen Kirche. In 1922 the X. was incorporated into the Pontifical Work for the Propagation of the Faith, transferred from France to Rome. The centre of the X. is also that of the Missionary Union of the Clergy and of the Work of St. Peter the Apostle; a Missionary Museum was likewise established there.