LAZARITES (LAZARISTS or LAZARIANS)  , the popular names of the " Congregation of Priests of the Mission " in the Roman Catholic Church . It had its origin in the successful mission to the common people conducted by St Vincent de Paul (q.v.) and five other priests on the estates of the Gondi family . More immediately it dates from 1624, when the little community acquired a permanent settlement in the college des Bons Enfans in Paris . Archiepiscopal recognition was obtained in 1626; by a papal bull of the 12th of January 1632, the society was constituted a congregation, with St Vincent de Paul at its head . About the same time the canons regular of St Victor handed over to the congregation the priory of St Lazarus (formerly a lazarhouse) in Paris, whence the name of Lazarites or Lazarists . Within a few years they had acquired another house in Paris and set up other establishments throughout France; missions were also sent to Italy (1638), Tunis (1643), Algiers and Ireland (1646) . Madagascar (1648) and Poland (r651) . A fresh bull of Alexander VII. in April 1655 further confirmed the society; this was followed by a brief in September of the same year, regulating its constitution . The rules then adopted, which were framed on the model of those of the Jesuits, were published at Paris in 1668 under the title Regulae seu constitutiones communes congregationis missionis . The special objects contemplated were the religious instruction of the lower classes, the training of the clergy and foreign missions . During the French Revolution the congregation was suppressed and St Lazare plundered by the mob; it was restored by Napoleon in 1804 at the desire of Pius VII., abolished by him in s8o9 in consequence of a quarrel with the pope, and again restored in 1816 . The Lazarites were expelled from Italy in 1871 and from Germany in 1873 .

The Lazarite

province of Poland was singularly prosperous; at the date of its suppression in 1796 it possessed thirty-five establishments . The order was permitted to return in 1816, but is now extinct there . In Madagascar it had a mission from 1648 till 1674 . In 1783 Lazarites were appointed to take the place of the Jesuits in the Levantine and Chinese missions; they still have some footing in China, and in 1874 their establishments through-out the Turkish empire numbered sixteen . In addition, they established branches in Persia, Abyssinia, Mexico, the South American republics, Portugal, Spain and Russia, some of which have been suppressed . In the same year they had fourteen establishments in the United States of America . The total number of Lazarites throughout the world is computed at about 3000 . Amongst distinguished members of the congregation may be mentioned: P . Collet (1693–1770), writer on theology and ethics; J. de la Grive (1689–1757), geographer; E . Bore (d . 1878), orientalist; P . Bertholon (1689–1757), physician; and Armand David, Chinese missionary and traveller .

See Regulae seu constitutiones communes congregations missionis (Paris, 1668); Memoires de la congregation de la mission (1863); Congregation de la mission . Repertoire historigue (1900) ; Notices bihliographiques sur

les ecrivains de la congregation de la mission (-'.ngouleme, 1878); P . Helyot, Dict. des ordres religieux, viii . 64-77; M . Heimbrecher, Die Orden and Kongregationen der katholischen Kirche, ii . (1897); C . Stork in Wetzer and Welte's Kirchenlexikon (Catholic), vii.; E . Bougaud, History of St Vincent de Paul (1908) .