113
ACCOUNT OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY NARRATOR.
1 —Establishment of the Association for the Propagation of the faith.
In the golden era of France, when Louis XIV. swayed its sceptre, was founded in Paris, under the patronage of his Most Christian Majesty, the establishment called Maison des Missions Etrangeres, the eleves of which were designed to convey the light of the Gospel to the eastern extremities of the world. This foundation, although it survived, severely felt the shocks of those religious and civil turmoils, which, during a large portion of the last half century, agitated the whole of Europe. It still exists, but unfortunately is no longer in the enjoyment of its once ample endowments and resources. No sooner, however, had the turmoils somewhat subsided, than a zeal for the propagation of the faith began to actuate some ecclesiastics and pious laymen of the city of Lyons, who, seeing the deplorable condition to which the foreign missions were reduced, resolved to exert themselves in their behalf. Accordingly, in the year 1822, a society was formed, under the patronage of St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies, for the sole purpose of aiding by alms and prayers, foreign Catholic missionaries both in the old and the new world, each associate engaging to contribute the weekly sum of one halfpenny to a general fund for the support of the missions, and to recite daily one Pater and Ave, together with St. Francis Xavier, pray for us, to invoke the divine blessing on the association and the missions. The number of associates soon became considerable. From Lyons and its immediate vicinity they spread rapidly through the adjoining provinces, and an eagerness to partake in the pious work was shortly manifested in the capital itself, where the association was joined by many persons equally distinguished by their rank, their learning, and their piety. The bishops, too, with simultaneous accord recommended the association in the most energetic terms to their respective flocks. These again were seconded by the zeal and eloquence of the inferior clergy; and the speedy result was, that scarcely a diocese or even a parish was to be found, which did not furnish members to the association.
