Say “mission” today and most think of Africa and Asia, of faraway places where the poor hear the “Good News” of Jesus and experience the Lord’s great love through the work and witness of missionaries. But a century ago, the “Missions” were right here at home, and missionaries from Europe proclaimed the Gospel and served the poor on our shores, all motivated by the command of Jesus to “go, make disciples of all nations.”

In 2008, the Church in the United States marked the 100th anniversary of our no longer being considered “mission territory” dependent on financial help from the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. As World Mission Sunday approaches, it is the perfect time to celebrate our rich missionary history and to reflect with gratitude on the debt we owe to the missionaries who journeyed here and to the Catholics who supported their efforts through the Pontifical Mission Societies.

Lighting Our Way from France

In early 19th century in France, a young woman, Pauline Jaricot, had a vision. She saw two oil lamps – one, empty; the other, full. In her dream, the full lamp was filling up the empty one, making it fit once again for use.

Pauline saw the full lamp as the Missions of her day – our own country included. She had been hearing a lot about those young churches from her brother, Phileas, as he prepared for the priesthood. She believed that the great faith of these growing churches would “fill up” the lack of faith she was finding in her own native France, and help renw her Church at home. So Pauline decided to start something to support the Missions of her day, so just that would happen. (Later, history would prove Pauline right. In fact, many missionary Religious Communities came out of France in the latter part of the 19th century, and three of the four Pontifical Mission Societies were founded there during those years.)

Pauline started gathering together small groups — mostly workers in her family’s silk factory. She asked each member of the group to offer daily prayer and a weekly sacrifice of a sous (the equivalent of a penny at that time) for the Church’s worldwide missionary work. She insisted that her efforts be directed to all the Church’s Missions, that it be universal.

From Pauline’s vision came the founding of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Two thirds of its first collection in 1822 went to support the vast diocese of Louisiana, which then extended from the Florida Keys to Canada, and the Missions of Kentucky. The remaining third went to China.

The young Church in the United States started contributing to missionary outreach through the Propagation of the Faith as early as 1840. Today, as the Propagation of the Faith continues to seek prayer and sacrifice for the world’s Missions – now more than 1,150 dioceses in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and remote regions of Latin America – Pauline’s vision also continues, both in the emphasis on daily prayer and regular sacrifice, and in the universal approach to offering help to all the Missions through one General Fund of Solidarity.

But Pauline’s job for the Missions didn’t end there. She had more to say about the subject – and she said it to just the right person.