Lazarists

vincentians. Popular name of the Congregation of the Priests of the Mission which originated in the successful mission to the ordinary people on the Gondi family estates conducted by Vincent de Paul* and five others in 1625. Approved by papal bull (1632), the society was constituted a congregation with Vincent as superior. They received the priory of St. Lazarus, Paris (formerly a lazar-house), hence the popular name. The society was confirmed by Alexander VII (1655), and rules framed on the Jesuit model were published in Paris in 1668. Their special concerns were the evangelization of the poorer classes, the training of clergy, and foreign missions. Suppressed during the French Revolution, they were restored by Napoleon.