Society for the Propagation of the Faith

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith (Latin: Propagandum Fidei) is an international association coordinating assistance for Catholic missionary priests, brothers, and nuns in mission areas.

To a Mrs. Petit, whom he had known in the United States, he expressed the idea of founding a charitable association for the support of Louisiana missions, which suggestion she cordially embraced, but could procure only small alms among her friends and acquaintances.

[1] Separately, in 1820, Pauline Jaricot of Lyon received a letter from her brother, a student at the Seminary of St. Sulpice, in which he described the extreme poverty of the members of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.

In 1840, Gregory XVI placed the society in the rank of Universal Catholic institutions, and on 25 March 1904, in the first year of his pontificate, Pius X recommended it to the charity of all the faithful, praising its work, and raising the feast of its patron saint, Francis Xavier, to a higher rite.

In 1926, Pope Pius XI established an annual collection for the missionary work of the Church called "World Mission Sunday".

[5] The Society for the Propagation of the Faith concentrates its efforts to communities in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and remote area of Latin America.

It is a law of the society to make its affairs public, and each year an integral account of all money received, all appropriations made, and all expenditures is published in the "Annals".