Founded in 1850 under the patronage of Pope Pius IX by Angelo Ramazzotti, then an Oblate Father of Rho (Milan), later Bishop of Pavia, and subsequently Patriarch of Venice. The society is a "Pious Association of Secular Priests," who labor as missionaries in India, China, and Burma. They follow a rule approved by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda. The mother-house at Milan. The society has apostolic schools at Monza, Genoa, and Aversa, and missions in the dioceses of Hyderabad-Deccan and Krishnagar, the vicariates apostolic of Hantchoungfou, Hong-Kong, Kaifeng- fou, Nanyang, Toungoo, and Weihouifou, and the Prefecture Apostolic of Kengtung.