PROPAGANDA FIDE . 1 
As early as 1568 a congregation of four cardinals for the conversion of in¬ 
fidels existed, but this was apparently merely a temporary body, appointed for 
some special purpose; 2 nor did Sixtus V. create, as a part of his system of 
congregational government, any department charged with the important work 
of missions. The need for it, however, was soon and strongly felt; to such 
an extent that Clement VIII. (1592-1605) called together and regularly con¬ 
sulted a committee on these subjects, although obstacles arose which prevented 
its being made a formal congregation. Finally, in 1622, Gregory XV. estab¬ 
lished the congregation as it has since existed. It is characteristic of its his¬ 
tory that its first meeting was on June 14, while the constitntio organizing it 
is dated June 22. 3 In fact this constitution does not define its duties and pow¬ 
ers, and these have to be judged from a study of its activities. Once in exist¬ 
ence, the Propaganda lost little time in growth, and under the care of the Bar- 
berini (1623-1644) speedily assumed the important role in the papal admini¬ 
stration which it was to hold for two hundred and eighty-six years. 
The duty of the Propaganda is not to infidels alone. In fact when it was 
founded the primary object was the conversion of heretics. Its field of labor, 
therefore, was well-nigh universal, and by no means confined, as it practically 
is to-day, to countries officially considered non-Christian. 4 It was not intended 
that all this vast labor should be done directly by the Propaganda or its sub¬ 
ordinates. The whole history of Christianity has been one of propagation, and 
the Catholic church was already well supplied with missionary organs. The 
business of the new congregation was the direction and correlation of these 
forces, and only secondarily actual missionary work. It might well be sup¬ 
posed that the difficulties of such a task would prove greater than if a clear 
field had existed. As concerns America, the first of these questions of adjust¬ 
ment was with Spain. The hostility of the Spanish government to any direct 
interference with its American possessions has already been pointed out, and 
its claim to direct the whole work of propagation in those continents. In 1659 
the nuncio was still in conflict, in behalf of the Propaganda, with the Council 
of the Indies, fearing to license missionaries lest it be taken as an affront. 8 
The financial difficulties of Spain in the next few years seem to have weakened 
its position; at least its claims were not so strenuously insisted upon. 
A more permanent source of annoyance was with the various monastic or¬ 
ders, which considered the work of missions peculiarly their own. Here the 
question was not so much one of jurisdiction, for the orders seem to have co¬ 
operated easily with the new congregation and were in fact its chief agents; 
but as to the disputes between the several orders. In 1673 the general of the 
Dominicans was refused permission to have certain copies made from the 
1 Joseph Frari, The Propaganda (Baltimore, 1902, pp. 20) ; Th. Trede, Die Propaganda 
Fide in Rom: Ihre Geschichte und Bedeutung (Berlin, 1889, pp. 32). 
2 Nun. di Spagna IV., f. 82, Aug. 14, 1568. 
8 Collectanea S. Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, I. 1-3. 
4 See Casanatense, cod. 2046 , “Relatione della Nunziatura di Francia ”, Oct. 27, 
1623, p. 292. 
6 Scrit. Rif. Prop. Fide, 258 , Apr. 30, 1659. See also Cause, 321 . 
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