Congregation of the Mission

The Congregation of the Mission, abbreviated CM and commonly called the Vincentians or Lazarists, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Vincent de Paul. It is associated with the Vincentian Family, a loose federation of organizations that consider Vincent de Paul as their founder or patron.

Mission

Inspired by the "first mission" of Chátillon-les-Dombes and Folleville, where he delivered his first mission sermon, St. Vincent de Paul found that there was a need for popular missions and general confessions throughout the most abandoned areas of France. He sought to fill this need by forming a group of missionaries, and in 1625 he founded the Congregation of the Mission as an apostolic society together with other priests: Anthony Portail, M. Belin, Francis de Coudray and John de la Salle. Years later, this mission would decide to invoke a passage in Luke's gospel as its motto: Evangelizare pauperibus misit me.
In 1633, St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac founded the Company of the Daughters of Charity, a group of women dedicated to serving the "poorest of the poor". The services the Company offered included prayer and community living, with a spirit of humility, simplicity and charity.

History

The Congregation originated with the successful mission to the common people conducted by Vincent de Paul and five other priests on the estates of the Gondi family. More immediately, it dates from 1624, when the little community acquired a permanent settlement in the Collège des Bons Enfants in Paris, which later became a seminary under the name of St. Firmin. The first missions of the Vincentians were in the suburbs of Paris and in Picardy and Champagne.
Archiepiscopal recognition of the mission was obtained in 1626. By a papal bull on January 12, 1633, the society was constituted as a congregation, with Vincent de Paul as its head. At about the same time, the canons regular of St. Victor handed over to the congregation their priory of Saint Lazare in Paris, which led to its members being popularly known as Lazarists.
Within a few years the Vincentians had acquired another house in Paris and set up other establishments throughout France; missions were also sent to Italy, Tunis, Algiers and Ireland, Madagascar, Poland, and Turkey. A bull of Alexander VII in April 1655 further confirmed the society; this was followed by a brief in September of the same year, regulating its constitution. The rules then adopted, which were framed on the model of those of the Jesuits, were published at Paris in 1668 under the title Regulae seu constitutiones communes congregationis missionis. Its special aims were religious instruction of the poor, training of the clergy, and foreign missions.
On the eve of the French Revolution, Saint Lazare was plundered by the mob and the congregation was later suppressed; it was restored by Napoleon in 1804 at the desire of Pius VII, abolished by him in 1809 in consequence of a quarrel with the pope, and again restored in 1816. The Vincentians were expelled from Italy in 1871 and from Germany in 1873.
The Vincentian province of Poland was singularly prosperous; at the date of its suppression in 1796, it possessed thirty-five establishments. The Congregation of the Mission was permitted to return to Poland in 1816, where it remains active. In Madagascar it had a mission from 1648 until 1674. In 1783, Vincentians were appointed to take the place of the Jesuits in the Levantine and Chinese missions; and in 1874 their establishments throughout the Ottoman Empire numbered sixteen. Additionally, they established missions in Persia, Abyssinia, Mexico, the South American republics, Portugal, Spain, and Russia, some of which were later suppressed. In the same year they had fourteen establishments in the United States of America.

Mother House

The Mother House is a building designated as the successor of the first Mother House, which had been the former priory of Saint Lazare. This house, located at 95 rue de Sèvres, was the former residence of the Duke of Lorges, and was made available to the Congregation of the Mission by the French government in 1817. In 2006, the French State officially made the Congregation of the Mission the owner of the house and its grounds.
The Mother House consists of a series of buildings around a paved courtyard. The entrance is in the central neo-Renaissance style pavilion at the back of the courtyard. In a niche on the façade is a statue of Saint Vincent de Paul.
Currently, for the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentians are renovating the Mother House, with the aim of accommodating those seeking spiritual enrichment, especially members of all branches of the Vincentian Family, pilgrims and people of faith.

Vincentian Family

There are people who do not belong to groups or congregations of consecrated life, but who live according to the spirituality and charism of St. Vincent; these are volunteers who work in parishes, schools, hospitals and many other places.
The spirituality of Vincent de Paul has influenced the foundation of other societies of apostolic life and even of some institutes of consecrated life which, in communion, form today what is called the Vincentian family.⁸ There are 170 congregations, with 2 million people involved, and groups of lay people, which have grown from a "family" to a "movement", reaching almost 4 million people:

the Daughters of Charity, founded by Vincent de Paul himself, with the help of Louise de Marillac in 1633,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Novara, a religious congregation founded in 1773 in Italy,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Majorca, founded in Spain in 1798,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, founded by Jeanne Antide Touret in Canada in 1799,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Gijzegem, founded in Belgium in 1818,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Fulda, founded in Germany in 1835,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Innsbruck, founded in Austria in 1835,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Paderborn, founded in Germany in 1840,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Hildesheim, founded in Germany in 1852,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Freiburg, also foiunded in Germany in 1853,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Halifax, founded in Canada,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Zagreb, founded in the former Yugoslavia,
the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of the Prince of Palagonia, founded in Parmelo, Italy, in 1835,
the Sisters of Providence of Kingston, founded in Canada,
the Malabar Vincentians of the Syro-Malabar rite, founded in India in 1927,
and the Vincentian laity, who share the work and spirituality of the Congregation of the Mission and of the various Vincentian congregations or societies. There are many Vincentian lay groups, among them the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Vincentian Marian Youth, the Miraculous Medal Association, the Volunteers of Charity and the members of the Conferences of St. Vincent de Paul.
Present day

In 2022, the Congregation of the Mission had 3,099 incorporated members, of whom 2,781 were priests. They have 476 houses, spread over five vice-provinces: Mozambique, Nigeria, Costa Rica and St. Cyril and Methodius, and thirty-seven provinces on five continents.

Africa: Madagascar, St. Justin de Jacobis, Ethiopia, Kenya and Congo.
America: Central America, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, United States, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.
Asia: China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Orient.
Europe: Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, France, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Portugal.
Oceania: Australia.

As of 2021, the Vincentians number about 3,100 worldwide, with a presence in 95 different countries. Its specific apostolate remains the evangelization of the poor and the formation of the clergy., Tomaž Mavrič is the incumbent worldwide superior general of the Congregation of the Mission, elected during its general assembly on July 5, 2016.

Opus Prize Finalist

On August 30, 2007, The Catholic University of America,, announced that it would award on November 8 a $1-million and two $100,000 Humanity prizes to finalist organizations which contributed to solve most persistent social problems: John Adams ; Stan Goetschalckx ; and Bebot Carcellar of the Vincentian Missionaries Social Development Foundation. On November 8, 2007, David M. O'Connell, president of Catholic University, personally bestowed these Opus Prizes at the university's Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center.

Philippines

In 2008 the Vincentian family marked 150 years in the Philippines, led by the provincial Bienvenido M. Disu, Gregorio L. Bañaga, President of Adamson University, and Archbishop Jesus Dosado of the Archdiocese of Ozamis. The Philippine province has a deacon, 5 incorporated brothers, and 97 priests. A major work is the housing program for hundreds of families, especially those affected by demolitions and relocations along the Philippine North and South Railways tracks.
The CBCP Newsletter announced on July 10, 2008, the appointment of the Philippine Marcelo Manimtim as director of Paris-based Centre International de Formation. Manimtim is the first Asian to hold the office.

Housing programs

In 1991, Carcellar was assigned to Payatas. With his "Planning for a new home, Systemic Change Strategy," he organized Philippine massive home constructions, which he began by a savings program at Payatas dumpsite. Carcellar's "The Homeless Peoples Federation Philippines" provided slum dwellers of Iloilo City and Mandaue City with initiatives to survive poverty. In 2008 it promoted savings in Southeast Asia, since the Philippine Federation affiliated with an international network called "Slum/Shack Dwellers International".
Another, younger Vincentian was also assigned by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales as the Coordinator of the Housing Ministry of the Archdiocese of Manila.