The Congregation of the Mission, known as the Lazarists (named after their first residence in Paris, the Priory of Saint-Lazare), was founded by Saint Vincent de Paul in 1625 for the evangelization of the poor. This work of human and Christian development was initially carried out through popular missions in rural areas and the organization of “Confraternities of Charity” in parishes, and later through the formation of priests in seminaries to ensure the fruitful outcomes of the missions; it took on a new dimension in 1648 with the dispatch of missionaries to Madagascar.
These three aspects of the Lazarists’ mission are carried out today across five continents, in six countries, including the Near and Middle East.
Connection to the Daughters of Charity:
Originally, Vincent de Paul wanted the two communities to work closely together:
- The Lazarists provide spiritual guidance;
- The Daughters of Charity provide assistance to the poor on the ground.
For a long time, the Superior General of the Lazarists was also the ecclesiastical superior of the Daughters of Charity. This arrangement still exists today: the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission plays a special role with regard to the Company of the Daughters of Charity. Currently, the two institutions have their own governing bodies, but they remain linked by their constitutions and their history.
Click HERE to learn more about the Daughters of Charity
Here is an example of a project supported by Œuvre d'Orient:
The Lazarist Mission in Abyssinia, Ethiopia
Justin de Jacobis, an Italian Lazarist, was sent by the Congregation’s Mission to Abyssinia in 1839. After his death, this mission fell to the French Lazarists. “When I had the honor of seeing you last spring, I spoke to you about the Mission in Abyssinia, about the need to establish schools there to ensure the triumph of the true faith in those lands; and finally, of the hope it placed in the generosity of your noble work to achieve this significant progress. […] This work continues; at this very moment, it includes some fifteen young men aged 12 to 25 who are entirely in our care. “This is the Mission’s seminary,” wrote the Apostolic Vicar of Abyssinia in May 1874 in a letter addressed to the Director of the Work of the Schools of the East.
Today, the Lazarists are still present in Eritrea, in Asmara, as well as in Ethiopia, supported by the Society in their mission.
