FATHERS
795
FATHERS
Mercy resumed their missionary labours in France,
only to meet again the disasters which befell all reli-
gious societies through the decree of expulsion in 1880.
However, through the influence of their many friends
in Paris, and claiming the enforcement of the authori-
zation given to the society by Louis XVIII in 1816,
the Fathers of Mercy retained their mother-house in
Paris until the separation of Church and State in 1905,
when they moved to Belgium.
In 1839, at the suggestion of Bishop Hughes, of New York, Mgr. Forbin-Janson introduced the leathers of Mercy into the United States, their first field of labour being in the Diocese of New Orleans. Bishop Pollers, of Mobile, Alabama, then invited them to take charge of Spruig Hill College. Two years later. Fathers Lafont and Aubril were sent to look after the increasing French population in New York City, where the Fathers of Mercy now have charge of the parishes of
St. Vincent de Paul, Manhattan, and of Our Lady of
Lourdes and St. Frances de Chantal, Brooklyn. They
also have a house of studies in Rome, houses in Bel-
gium, France, and other places. By a decree of Prop-
aganda (August, 1906), the Very Rev. Theophile
Wucher was named Vicar General of the Institute for
three years and took up his residence in New York.
In their activities the Fathers of Mercy embrace all
works of apostolic zeal. One of their chief character-
istics is, that they must at all times consider them-
selves auxiliaries of the secular clergy, and in every
way conform to the will of the bishop in whose diocese
they may labour. The end and mode of life the con-
gregation imposes upon its members differs little from
that of every good secular priest.
Jame.s Donghue. Fathers of the Christian Doctrine. See Bus ('esar de; Christian Doctrine, Confraternity of
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