This Society was the inspiration of a young lady of Lyons, France, called Pauline Marie Jaricot. She was born on 22nd July 1799. From her early childhood she received a good Catholic education. She had all the comforts of a family that had become rich at the beginning of the industrial revolution. As a teenager she had plenty of money and was proud of her beauty, jewels and her expensive clothes that Made her the toast of society gatherings. At the age of seventeen Pauline heard the sermon of her parish priest that made a deep impression on her and she saw the deep meaning of her existence and the vanity of her aspirations; a disappointing and infinite vanity that She abandoned forever!

She decided to serve God and dedicate herself entirely to the cause of faith. Accordingly, at the end of 1816, she took the vow of chastity, and adopted the life style and manner of dress of poor workers.

A group of young girls working in her father's factory gathered around her and formed a Spiritual Association called simply “those who make reparation”. In 1818 the group also assumed the dimension of prayer and missionary animation, with an optional offering of one centime a week “to cooperate in the spread of the Gospel”. For Pauline this represented the orientation of her entire existence towards Mission. Encouraged also by the example of her brother Phileas, a seminarian of the Paris Missionary Society, she combined spiritual outreach perfectly with concrete actions.

In her mind she outlined the simplest and most effective way of helping and praying for the missionaries: those who pray together for the Missions, also help them together. So she started a group activity with ten people, each had to find another ten people who prayed for the missions and give one centime a week for this purpose. The idea inflamed hearts and the project spread rapidly: On 20 October 1820 there were already 500 members enrolled in what would later be called the Pontifical Mission Society of the Propagation of Faith, whose official foundation is on 3rd May 1822. To confirm its missionary spirit and its service to the Universal Church, on 3 May 1922 with the Motu Proprio Romanorum Pontificum Pius XI declared the Society of Propagation of the Faith “Pontifical”.

The aim of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith is to promote world-wide interest in evangelization in all sections of the “People of God”, namely families, Christian communities, parishes, schools, movements, associations, councils, commissions, etc, etc so that each diocese may become aware, at all levels, of its universal vocation. It is designed and intended to develop the missionary conscience, to inform people of the needs of universal mission, and to promote mutual aid between churches and an exchange of spiritual values, material resources and missionary personnel, awakening in this way a spirit of practical solidarity to evangelize the world.

Each person should see himself/herself as a missionary for the propagation of the faith with the ability and the will to contribute to the needs of people worldwide. The obligation of spreading the faith is imposed on each one of us by our baptism and confirmation and we can do this in two ways; by prayer and by contributing money, no matter how small an amount, to the Society of the Propagation of the Faith. The money is used for the spreading of the faith according to the needs of the missions.