POPE LEO XII
FOR FUTURE REMEMBRANCE OF THE MATTER…
… It is now eleven years since Our Predecessor, Pius VII, of happy memory, shortly after he had by God’s protection guided back to port the storm tossed vessel of the Church safe and sound, openly stated that, due to the disorders of Church and State in France, preachers of the Gospel were needed for the work of recalling to the right path of salvation the sheep that had gone astray. And it was but a short time afterwards that a small band of priests was formed in the diocese of Aix, in Provence, in southern France, to undertake this sacred ministry…
…Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the Fisherman’s Ring, on the twenty first day of March, 1826, in the third year of Our Pontificate. Pope Leo XII
Apostolic Letter of Approbation, 21 March 1826, Missions O.M.I., n° 280 (1952), pp. 568ff.
Eugene’s response to the storms the Church was facing, was his founding vision for us:
The sight of these evils has so touched the hearts of certain priests, zealous for the glory of God, men with an ardent love for the Church, that they are willing to give their lives, if need be, for the salvation of souls.
Preface of the CCRR
