 The Society for the Propagation of the Faith was founded in Lyons, France in 1822 by a young French laywoman named Pauline Jaricot. Inspired by stories she heard about missionary work in China, she felt called by the Lord to help the Catholic Church’s worldwide missionary work. Pauline never traveled to the missions, which, during her lifetime, consisted of the missions in China and young dioceses in the United States. She gathered friends and workers in a family silk mill into "circles of ten," asking each person to pray daily for the missions and to sacrifice a penny-a-week (at that time, quite a large sacrifice!). From this idea emerged the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
In 1922, a century after its foundation in France, the headquarters of the Propagation of the Faith was transferred to Rome. It was given the status of a Pontifical Society. In the decree of its being named a Pontifical Society, Pope Pius XI wrote that “the Society for the Propagation of the Faith would be the organ of the Holy See for the collection everywhere of the alms of the faithful and their distribution among all Catholic Missions … all Christian people should aid through their generosity the work of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.”
Today, the General Fund of the Propagation of the Faith, which gathers gifts from Catholics all over the world — a concept that originated with Pauline Jaricot and her desire to help all the world's missions — is the basic means of support for the Catholic Church's worldwide missions.
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