Back Společenství zahraničních misií v Paříži Czech Pariser Mission German Sociedad de las Misiones Extranjeras de París Spanish Missions étrangères de Paris French Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris ID Società per le missioni estere di Parigi Italian パリ外国宣教会 Japanese សមាគមក្រុមចេញផ្សាយសាសនានៅបរទេស Cambodian 파리 외방전교회 Korean Societas Parisiensis missionum ad exteras gentes Latin

Paris Foreign Missions Society

Paris Foreign Missions Society
Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris[1]
AbbreviationPost-nominal letters: M.E.P.[1]
Formation1658 (1658)
FounderBishop François Pallu, MEP[2]
TypeSociety of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right (for Men)
Headquarters128 rue du Bac, 75341 Paris CEDEX 07, France[1]
Membership
189 members (178 priests) as of 2018[3]
Superior General
Vincent Sénéchal[3]
AffiliationsCatholic Church
Websitehttps://missionsetrangeres.com/

The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (French: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, short M.E.P.) is a Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons dedicated to missionary work in foreign lands.[4]

The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris was established 1658–63. In 1659, instructions for establishment of the Paris Foreign Missions Society were given by Rome's Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. This marked the creation of a missionary institution that, for the first time, did not depend on the control of the traditional missionary and colonial powers of Spain or Portugal.[5] In the 350 years since its foundation, the institution has sent more than 4,200 missionary priests to Asia and North America. Their mission is to adapt to local customs and languages, develop a native clergy, and keep close contacts with Rome.[6]

In the 19th century, local persecutions of missionary priests of the Paris Foreign Missions Society were often a pretext for French military intervention in Asia.[7] In Vietnam, such persecutions were used by the French government to justify the armed interventions of Jean-Baptiste Cécille and Charles Rigault de Genouilly. In China, the murder of the priest Auguste Chapdelaine became the casus belli for the French involvement in the Second Opium War in 1856. In Korea, persecutions were used to justify the 1866 French campaign against Korea.

Today, the Paris Foreign Missions Society remains an active institution in the evangelization of Asia.

  1. ^ a b c "Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.)". GCatholic.org.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Catholic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b "Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.)".
  4. ^ Asia in the Making of Europe, p.231
  5. ^ Missions, p.3
  6. ^ Missions, p.4
  7. ^ Missions, p.5

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