The Catholic bulletin., 1922-08-19
FOR THE REORGANIZATION AND
A NEW DEVELOPMENT or THE
SOCIETY FOR THE PRoPAGA-
TioN OF THE FAITH.


The Roman Pontiff's greatest solic-
itude must evidently be for the eter-
nal salvation of souls by the AHread-
ing of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ
throughout the world in accordance
with the command given to His Apos-
ties by the Divine Founder OF the
Church: Going, teach all nations. :"
Preach the Gospel to every crea-
ture.
Need Of Means.
Neither Peter nor his successors
have ever failed in this duty; where
fore at a time when, by much hard
ship and labor, courageous explorers
discovered unknown regions beyond
the seas and gave apostolic men &C,
cess to new peoples, Our hlustrlous
predecessor, Gregory XIV, wisely con-
sidering, as We read in His Acts,
that "the. foremost duty of the pas
toral office is the propagation of the
Christian faith" founded the Sacred
Congregation of Propaganda with the
object of promoting in the best pos
sible manner the truly immense task
of the evangelization of the infidels'
1t belongs to this Congregation to
send missionaries to all parts of the
world, to assign to them their. f1elds
of labors according to the relative
needs, to give a moral and material
assistance to persons and institutions;
in short, to provide for the missions
all that apostolic zeal and the abun.
dant charity of Christ may inspire
Although material subsidies are not
the first consideration, they are
nevertheless, of great importance fol-
the welfare of the Catholic missions
and Our predecessors have bestowed
them with great generosity. Futher
more, Christian Princes, convinced
that numerous advantages for their
own countries would result there
from, assisted the missions most lib
orally. At present, however, as every
one knows, the Apostolic See finds it
self in very different pecuniary cir.
cumstances, and 1t cannot rely, to any
great extent, upon the aid of civil
governments to promote the ends OF
Holy Church.
Perhaps there has never been
aroused missionary activity so In
tense as that produced among the
Christian people by the Encyclical
Maximum Illud, of Our lamented pre-
decessor, Benedict XIV. This best
and most Jealous of Pontiffs, over
whelmed by so many labors and suf
ferings consequent upon the Great
War, and consumed by his unceasine
efforts to restore peace in Europe
was granted, by the goodness of God
the consolation of foreseeing through
unfailing signs that the preaching OF
the Gospel in Africa, Asia and Amer
lea was about to obtain far greater
success than in the past.
All Aims Acceptable.
We, whom like desire pursues and
animates, consider it Our sacred duty
to see that the wise provisions OF
Benedict XIV be observed, and espe
cially that all the missionaries receive
a generous, support. We are well
aware that the religious congrega
tions are accustomed to solicit the
charity of the faithful, each for their
own missions, and that number OF
people, animated with love of the
Faith, charitable zeal or other praise.
worthy motives, give voluntarily, and
in many countries, generously. How.
ever, this mode of collecting neither
meets the requirements of each mis-.
sion, nor lends itself to a just and
stable division of the aims among all
of them.
Therefore, besides these private col.
lections for certain missions, We,
following the example of Our prede.
cessors, wish that all the Catholic
missions be assisted by a contribu.
tion Of the Catholic universe and that
all the aims, no matter how small,
given by each of the sons of the
Church, be gathered together into one
fund placed at Our disposal and that
of the Sacred Congregation of Prop
aganda, to be distributed, in proper
tion to the needs, by committee ap-
pointed by Us.
The Propagation Society.
While we were considering the
means of executing our plan, the H.
lustrious institution of Lyons, known
as The Society for the Propagation OF
the Faith, founded century ago by
certain devout and charitable per-
sons. presented itself to us as most
suitable for that purpose. The sin.
gular merits of this organization,
which must be numbered among the
most beautiful and glorious of the re.
cent institutions of Catholic France,
are known to ALL What an immense
multitude from all parts of the world
have been united by this new bond
OF charity and led to assist the mis-
sions with the help of their aims and
the suffrage of their prayers! For
this reason our predecessors have en-
couraged this Society by numerous
Pontifical privileges and favors: Greg
CORY XVI In his Apostolic Letter
Probe nostis august Is, 184O), and
Leo XIII in his Encyclical, Sancts
Del civitas December 8, 1S80). have
recommended it in the most fiatterins
terms to all the bishops, clergy and
people.
1t gives us great pleasure to praise
on this occasion the two committees
OF Lyons and Paris for their prud
ence and especially for the impartial