This association should not be confounded with the Congregatio de propaganda fide, commonly called the propaganda, which was established at Rome, in the year 1622, by Pope Gregory XV, and which has for its object to instruct in theology, philosophy, belles-lettres, and the oriental languages, the young ecclesiastics who are intending to labor as missionaries in foreign countries; nor should it be confounded with the "Leopold Society of Austria," concerning which much has been said in this country, and which was formed in 1829 with special reference to Roman Catholic missions in America, and whose plan of organization is copied from the association at Lyons. To this latter, as the elder and more extended society, we now turn our attention.*

The Archbishop of Rouen, first President of its chief council, in a circular letter addressed to the Archbishops and Bishops of France, in explaining the object of the society, says:†

"Before the revolution France was distinguished among all Catholic countries for eminent services in foreign missions; but the religious orders which were consecrated to this work have disappeared; a few remnants only are devoted to it; and while in countries separated from the unity of the faith, the spirit of the age makes unheard of efforts, particularly by means of Bible societies, to disseminate error in all parts of the world, we have the pain of seeing the extreme insufficiency of the means in use among us for the propagation of the truth. Some pious persons, touched with the progress which falsehood has made, and the ruin impending on our foreign missions, have formed an association, whose bond of union is the spirit of zeal, and whose object is to collect funds to defray the expenses of these missions in distant countries."

should judge to be interesting and valuable, and proceeded to publish a statement, taken from the report of the society, that the amount of money sent to this country for mission purposes for the year, was 15,000 francs, and his surprise and astonishment were great when his paragraph came back to him in his exchanges corrected to 150,000 dollars, so unwilling were editors and readers to believe the truth in this matter.

*The plan in some of its features is stated in the Annales to be taken from a Baptist society in England, but seems to be more fully developed in this. Annales, No. 6, page 88.

Annales, No. 3, page 12.

The Prospectus of the association says: "Vast in its aim, the support of foreign missions in both hemispheres; easy and simple in its means, a small weekly contribution and a short prayer every day; the association desires to see on its list the names of all who appreciate what it is to be a Christian and a Frenchman, and who see in this society a happy means of increasing the number of the former, and of making the latter a blessing to the ends of the earth."

From the articles of association we learn not only the object, but the mode of operation of the society. Its object is declared to be, to aid, by all the means in its power, the missionaries who are engaged in spreading the faith in each hemisphere. Its members are believers of both sexes, whose Christian deportment may be calculated to call down the blessing of God on this enterprise. The principal means on which the association relies, are prayers and contributions.

In order to obtain God's blessing on the association and on the missions, each associate is invited to repeat every day a Pater and an Ave, adding the invocation, "St. Francis Xavier, pray for us;" three days in each year are specially set apart for prayer in reference to this object.

Each associate contributes one sou weekly for missions. Ten contributors form a section; ten sections a hundred; ten hundreds a division. Each division has a chief, and the heads of the divisions in each diocese constitute the administrative council in that diocese. The chiefs of divisions appoint the chiefs of the hundreds, and the chiefs of the hundreds appoint the chiefs of the sections. In this way, each chief, whether of division, hundred, or section, has ten persons who are responsible to him, and who make reports to him.

The chiefs of the sections collect the weekly contributions from the members of their section, and make monthly payments to the chiefs of the hundreds. The chiefs of hundreds make monthly returns to the chiefs of their divisions of the funds received from their subordinates, and the chiefs of divisions in their turn to the council to which they belong at its next sitting.

Annales, Vol. V, page 549.

The distribution of funds is made by the superior council. Thus we see that the association is a purely voluntary association, in the bosom of that communion from which we should least expect any movement not strictly ecclesiastical. Its object is a simple one, to receive the stated contributions of its members, and to make such distribution of the funds so received as in the judgment of the managers will best promote the extension of their faith.

This is done without the intervention of agents. They say, in 1828,*

"The Bible Society of London, as appears from its reports, receives annually about two millions of francs; it pays to collectors, treasurers, &c., more than 2,500 pounds sterling; to the secretaries and other agents a larger amount. In a word, it pays to employees about 200,000 francs, or one-tenth of its income annually. Such a reproach cannot be brought against the work of the propagation of the faith; duties analogous to those which cost the Bible Society one-tenth of its income are performed for us gratuitously."

"What the exact fact is in reference to the expenses of this association, may be understood by taking two years at random as examples. In 1839, the total receipts were 1,895,682 francs. The expenses of printing 90,000 copies of the Annales, six times in the year, in seven different languages, including the reprinting of eleven old numbers, were 117,395 francs. The expenses of management, including salaries, rent, postage, &c., were 25,237 francs. In 1852, the total receipts were 4,790,468 francs. The expenses of the publication of 169,200 copies every two months, in nine different languages, were 174,659 francs. The expenses of management, including salaries, rent, postage, &c., were 28,262 francs. It is added, the managers (administrateurs) perform their services at all times, entirely without compensation. They do not rely on occasional appeals, on spasmodic efforts, or on large donations, although it is provided by their rules that one person, if so disposed, may take on himself the whole contribution of a section, that is to say, ten sous weekly, but they rely mainly on

Annales, Vol. III, page 3.

small contributions from all persons of their faith, frequently repeated at regular periods, and especially discourage occasional collections for particular missions.

They appoint no missionaries, and exercise no control over those whom they assist, but restrict their efforts to furnishing material aid to such missionaries in various parts of the world as may have been sent out by other agencies, and to whom a contribution in money seems important for the more efficient promulgation of their religious faith.

Some of the results accomplished are mentioned in the official statement of the society, published in 1832.* They say: "The association has realized all the hopes of its founders; abundant contributions have been received; these have been sent across the seas and have been applied to the pious purpose which the associates designed. Seminaries have been built, proselytes have been assisted, and the ways have been leveled before the apostolic messengers. A concert of benedictions rises from the remotest regions of the east and west, in favor of this association. In France it has produced results no less admirable. A spirit of faith and religious zeal has everywhere arisen. No other established work has suffered in consequence, but by introducing a habit and taste for good works in the poorer classes of society, the association has benefited all charitable enterprises."

The Abbé Le Courtier, in a discourse delivered in Paris, in 1849, shows some of the results which have been accomplished while he is urging his hearers to coöperate in the plan of the society. He says: "The work is eminently Catholic ;in its extent, for wherever children of the Roman church are found, there are collected the mites consecrated to foreign missions;-in its aim, which is to diffuse everywhere the light and blessings of the gospel, giving aid at the present time to fifty dioceses in Europe, seventeen in Asia, fifteen in Africa, forty-two in America, and thirteen in Oceanica ;-in its modes of operation, it has found out the secret of being the work of

* Annales, Vol. V, page 550. VOL. XVII.

7

Annales, Vol. XXI, page 340.

all, of the rich and the poor, of the powerful as well as of the simple laborer, in asking of each only a short and devout prayer every day, and the contribution of a single sou every week."

The actual statistics will show more exactly what success has attended the efforts of this society in the collection of money, and in engaging and retaining the interest of large numbers of contributors.

We take from the several reports of the society the annual statement of gross receipts for thirty-one years. We have seen no report later than 1852:

The growth of the association may be seen also by comparing the sources from which its funds are supplied. In 1822, the small amount received was contributed by a few divisions in the French dioceses of Lyons, Avignon, Nîmes, Montpellier, St. Vallier, and Moulins. In 1852, the society drew its resources from every country in Europe, including 328,829 francs from Great Britain, and it reports also 226,376 francs from North and South America. In their issue of May, 1840,* it is stated, that the number of associates is 700,000 persons, who regularly contribute to the funds of the society.

It may be interesting to look at the labors of the missiona