Using keyword or filter-based searches, readers can freely view and download various types of publications produced by the Paris Foreign Missions Society between 1840 and 1964:
These circular letters were sent annually or biannually to the missionaries by the directors of the Paris seminary (until 1921), and subsequently by the Superior of the Society, to inform them of major news concerning the European life of the institution.
The MEP reports, submitted annually to Rome, centralize the summaries of activities produced by each branch of the Society. Initially, the annual report consisted of a simple “account of the work” (years 1840–1859; 1868–1869; 1886). After 1860, the reports expanded to include several types of documents:
The Annual Reports from 1871 to 1941 are also available on Gallica.
Published primarily in Paris, but also in Vannes, Sens, and Lille, this bimonthly journal promoted the MEP’s apostolic, social, and scientific work to the institution’s French supporters.
The complete digitized journal is also available on Gallica.
This monthly newsletter published by the MEP press in Hong Kong served as an internal link among the missionaries.
The Bulletins from 1922 to 1941 are also available on Gallica.
The title Échos has existed since 1921 to refer to a simple newsletter, written by the Paris Seminary and typed, sent several times a month to MEP members residing in France.
The Bulletins of the Korean Missions consist of an internal newsletter for missionaries in Korea, containing practical information, accounts of missionary activities, and reports on socio-political events occurring both within and outside the country. The first bulletin was published in Seoul in 1902 under the vicariate of Bishop Gustave Mutel. It was published continuously from 1902 to 1924, and then from 1944 to 1946. The Diocese of Daegu began publishing its own bulletin in 1911, following the creation of this new vicariate and shortly after Bishop Florian Demange was appointed Apostolic Vicar. The Bulletin was sent regularly until 1912, then from 1939 to 1941.
La Vérité was a weekly periodical published in French at least between 1907 and 1926 by the missionaries of Sichuan and printed at the Chongqing printing press. We have only a few issues, mainly from 1918 (nos. 20–41), as well as a few scattered issues and supplements from 1907, 1909, 1911, 1912, and from 1923 to 1926.
This scholarly journal of high intellectual caliber published 28 issues in Tokyo, with the aim of enlightening missionaries in Japan about the cultural context of their mission. Its founders and contributors were priests of the MEP, notably Noël Péri, Edmond Papinot, Etienne Ballet, and Gustave Cesselin.
The 22 issues of Nouveaux mélanges, published in Tokyo, followed Mélanges japonais after the war, but were conceived more as a newsletter designed to keep missionaries informed of developments in Japanese society.
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The IRFA is currently preparing new resources on the history of Catholic missions in China:
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