Lazarists

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Lazarites (Lazarists, Lazarians, or, in English-speaking countries, Vincentians) are the popular names of the members of the Congregation of the Mission (Congregatio Missionis C.M.) in the Roman Catholic Church. They are a vowed order of priests and brothers associated with the Vincentian Family, a loose federation of organizations who claim St. Vincent de Paul as their founder or Patron.

The Congregation has its origin in the successful mission to the common people conducted by Saint Vincent de Paul and five other priests on the estates of the Gondi family.^[1] More immediately it dates from 1624, when the little community acquired a permanent settlement in the Collège des Bons Enfants in Paris. Archiepiscopal recognition was obtained in 1626. By a papal bull in January 1632, the society was constituted a congregation, with St Vincent de Paul at its head. About the same time the canons regular of St Victor handed over to the congregation the priory of St Lazarus (formerly a lazar-house) in Paris, whence the name of Lazarites or Lazarists.

Within a few years they had acquired another house in Paris and set up other establishments throughout France; missions were also sent to Italy (1638), Tunis (1643), Algiers and Ireland (1646), Madagascar (1648) and Poland (1651). A fresh 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. The special objects contemplated were the religious instruction of the lower classes, the training of the clergy and foreign missions.

On the eve of the French Revolution St Lazare was plundered by the mob, the congregation 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 Lazarists were expelled from Italy in 1871 and from Germany in 1873.

The Lazarite province of Poland was singularly prosperous; at the date of its suppression in 1796 it possessed thirty-five establishments. The order was permitted to return in 1816, where it is very active. In Madagascar it had a mission from 1648 till 1674. In 1783 Lazaristes were appointed to take the place of the Jesuits in the Levantine and Chinese missions; they still have some footing in China, and in 1874 their establishments throughout the Ottoman Empire numbered sixteen. In addition, they established branches in Persia, Abyssinia, Mexico, the South American republics, Portugal, Spain and Russia, some of which have been suppressed. In the same year they had fourteen establishments in the United States of America.

In the early twenty-first century the Lazarites numbered some 4000 worldwide, with a presence in 86 different countries.

1 Opus Prize Finalist
2 Vincentian Center for Social Responsibility (VCSR)
3 Universities
4 External links
5 References
6 Notes

[edit] Opus Prize Finalist

On August 30, 2007, The Catholic University of America, (with the Opus Prize 2004 Foundation, affiliated with The Opus Group), announced that it will award on November 8, a $1-million and two $100,000 Humanity prizes to finalists organizations which contributed to solve most persistent social problems: Father John Adams (of SOME (So Others Might Eat), which serves the poor and homeless in Washington, D.C.); Brother Stan Goetschalckx, F.C., (founder and director of AHADI International Institute in Tanzania, which educates refugees from Congo, Rwanda and Burundi); and Vincentian priest Rev. Norberto Carcellar, C.M., (of the Homeless People's Federation Philippines, which helped squatters in Payatas, Quezon City, Philippines living on garbage dump). Victor Nakas of the Catholic University of America, an Opus Prize Foundation partner, said that The Opus Prize is the 1953 vision of founder Gerry Rauenhorst. The 2007 Opus Prize will officially be handed at Catholic University's Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center.^[2]^[3]

[edit] Vincentian Center for Social Responsibility (VCSR)

On September 28, 2007, Philippine Vice President Noli De Castro welcomed the launching of the Vincentian Center for Social Responsibility (VCSR) by the Adamson University. VCSR intends to engage the Adamson's academic community more deeply and directly in nation-building. De Castro also cited the Adamson University and the Vincentian community for their efforts in putting up the VCSR: “it is high time we introduce to students a concept of brotherhood that is not based on exclusivity ...At mas natutuwa ako na ang napili ninyong pilot community ay ang Southville relocation site sa Cabuyao (Laguna).”^[4]

Members of the congregation include: