The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1879-01-19
kornIng Star and ClthoIlc Messenger.
Aaw Osi.rAns. SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 l.7s.
Il GREAT CHARITY.
ORIGIN OF TIE ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRO g.
PAGATIoN OF THE FAITH, AS TOLD BY
FREDERICK ozANAar.


PAGATIoN OF THE FAITH, AS TOLD BY
FREDERICK ozANAM.
Cries of distress, on the one hand from
the East, and on the other hand from the
West, reached the ears of two pioua women
dwelling in provincial city, and inspired
them with the design which, having been
now happily realized, supports, in our
days, with its efficacious aid, the missions
of the two worlds. In the year 1915,
MGR. DoBoURG, BISHOP OF NEW ORLEANS,
ON his return from Rome, where he had
been consecratea, stopped for some time at
Orleans. Full of anxiety on account of the
extreme poverty of his diocese, in which he
had every thing to organize from the very
foundation, he earnestly recommended it to
i the charity of the citizens of Lyons. In
particular, he spoke of bis auxietes to
3 truly Christian woman, q widow, whom he
had formerly known in the United States,
and told her that it had occurred to him
to establish, in aid of the spiritual neces
stiles of Louisiana, a charitable association,
fixing the su absorption at one franc year.
The d-hearted widow entered et once
into the Bishops views, and spoke on the
subject to some few persons but che met
with many difficulties; She had to await
the heaven appointed hour, and content
herself meanwhile with collecting some
triding aims for
THOSE CHRISTIAN SETTLEMENTS OF AMER
ICA,
which were the objects of her maternal
solicitu6e. Abont the very same time,
that is TOT say, in 1916. the tdirectors of the
Seminary of Foreign Missions, which bad
been year established at Paris, formed q
desire to revive the union of pray els for
the conversion Of ibfidels, organized in tne
preceding century. With this view, they
obtained indulgences from the Holy See,
and published an account of the destitute
condition Of their churches. These at
tempts had the effect Of preparing the way,
and favorably dlspoeiug maay minds.
Three years later, young per9on in L. one,
whose life of active charity reminds ous of
the Christian virgins Of the primitive
times, received from her brother, b student
of Saint Sulpice, Q. letter full of the saddest
expressions. He told her of Size d plorabla
poverty of the house Of the Foreign Mis-
sione, and proposed to obtain regular re
sources for 1t, through the establish mont
of charitable association. The pioue
sister took mp the happy thought, aud in
the course of the gear 1920, got together
society of persons, subscribing each one
half penny week towards the support of
the Seminary of the Missions. The work
began among
THE PIoUs WoRKwOMEN.
who honor by their hidden virtues aa they
sustain by their labor the rich and popu
lar trade of Lyons. During the six last
months of that year, the foundress bore,
sipgle-handed, the whole burden Of her
weighty undertaking. At that time there |
was neither union of prayer nor festi- |
val nor periodical publication. Soon |
the number of associates reached to about |
one thousand, considerable resQt GER |
tainly, but not likely to increase, owing to !
the necessarily limited range of tho inhu-
ence which the originatoTs could bring to |
bear. The collected offerings were sent |
ap a J1iOus from the churnh of |
Lyons to that ancient Asia whence she |
had received the faith. The amount was
two Thousand francs. It is pleasant to
count the first drops Of q dew which was
one day to fall in greater abundance on a
field of limitess extent. Mean while the
correspondents of Mgr. Dubourg, seeing
what had been done, were far from relin
gushing the hope of establishing some
thing similar for the benefit of New Orleans
when they received a visit in the beginning
of 1929 from the Vicar General of that see.
His presence still further inf1amed the zeal
of the benefactors of Louisiana. But it
had often been objected that work for
the Missions could never have a solid
foundation unless organized in Catholic
spirit, that is to say, for the assistance of
the apostolate throughout the universe.
The idea soon became general. A meeting
was called, and the twelve who were ipvit-
ed responded to the summons. The pro-
ceedings opened with the invocation of the
Holy Ghost. A priest was the fret to speak,
and after giving a short account of the
progress and
sUFFER1NGs OF RELIGION IN NORTH AMER
ICA.
he proposed the establishment of a great
for the benefit of the Catholic
missions in the two henispheres. The
was unanimously adopted; and
before the meeting separated a president
was named and a committee of three ap-
pointed to prepare plan of operations.
Then it was that in adopting the principle
Of universally which distinguished the
new enterprise from previous essays, the
Association for the Propagation of the
%an divine Providenee wRich SG peems
henceforth to have assumed the govern
ment of the Association, so as to conduct
it without the aid of man, that this first
meeting was held, entirely without pre-
on Friday, the 81 of May, the
faaak nf the finding of the Holy Cross. 1t