MSFS East Africa Province

The context of the founding of the Congregation was the French Revolution, the emergence of Jansenism and the emigration of Christians from Savoy. The political disturbances in the context of the French Revolution left the people in a deep spiritual crisis and indifferent towards their religious duties. Sensing the signs of the time, Fr Peter Mermier took upon himself the task of a spiritual renewal of his people by preaching parish missions. Thus, the MSFS Congregation was founded at a (historical) critical moment in human history to address the three-fold issues of de-Christianization and the anti-clerical attitudes developed as a result of the French Revolution, negative influence of Jansenism, and the emigration of the poverty-stricken population to France and Switzerland. Fr Mermier was fully convinced of and advocated ‘preaching of parish missions’ as the best solution to bring people back to faith. Parish missions consisted of week-long retreat preaching and visits of families for the purpose of spiritual renewal of the parish. The preachers proceeded from parish to parish, motivating the people to receive sacraments regularly and encouraging them to live genuine Christian lives. The initial focus of the parish missions was to reform the educational institutions, the clergy and the parishes. Once Monsieur Favre wrote to the missionaries at Annecy, ‘religion can only pick up again in Savoy by means of the missions.’