The origin of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda has been variously accounted for; in reality it is the result of slow evolution. It is certain that it passed through two distinct periods, one formative and the other constitutive. The first period is that of the cardinalitial commission de propaganda fide (before it had been constituted a definite pontifical department or ministry). This lasted from the time of Gregory XIII (1572-85) to 1622, when Gregory XV established the congregation properly so-called. Gregory XIII instituted a primary commission composed of the three cardinals, Caraffa, Medici, and Santorio, who were especially charged to promote the union with Rome of the Oriental Christians (Slavs, Greeks, Syrians, Egyptians, and Abyssinians). Their meetings, held under the presidency of Cardinal Santorio, known as the Cardinal of Santa Severina, revealed certain urgent practical needs -- e. g. the foundation of foreign seminaries, the printing of catechisms and similar works in many languages. Its efforts were successful among the Ruthenians, the Armenians, Syrians, both Western (as those of the Lebanon) and Eastern (as those of Malabar). After the death of Gregory XIII the rapid succession of four popes in seven years arrested the progress of the commission's work. Clement VIII (1592-1605), a pontiff of large and bold aims, was deeply interested in the commission, and caused its first meeting after his election to be held in his presenee. He retained Santorio as its president: weekly meetings were held in that cardinal's palace, and every fifteen days the decisions and recommendations of the commission were referred to the pontiff. To this period belongs a very notable triumph, the union with Rome of the Ruthenian nation (the Little Russia of Poland) called the Union of Brest (1598).

B. Second Period.

The death of Clement VIII revealed an essential weakness of the institution. It was a personal commission, depending for its very existence on the energy of its few members. Eventually the meetings of the three cardinals ceased; at the same time an active propagation of the Catholic Faith was kept up among both Protestants and non-Christians. The practical demise of the commission made evident the necessity of providing for its permanence. The honour of accomplishing this belongs to Gregory XV (1621-23). On 6 Jan., 1622, the pope summoned thirteen cardinals and two prelates, to whom he announced his intention of constituting a permanent and well-organized congregation for the propagation of Catholicism, and his hearers were appointed members of the congregation. The preliminaries of organization were diligently carried on; on 22 June of the same year appeared the Bull " Inscrutabili Divinae ", by which the Sacred Congregation de propaganda fide was instituted, composed of thirteen cardinals and two prelates, to whom were added a secretary and a consultor. Its first presidents were Cardinal Sauli, dean of the Sacred College, and Cardinal Ludovisi, nephew of the pope and founder of the Irish College at Rome. On the same day provision was made for the support of the congregation by the Constitution "Romanum Decet". It assigned to Prop aganda the tassa dell' anello (ring-tax) assessed on each newly appointed cardinal (500 gold scudi, later 600 silver scudi). On 14 Dec. of the same year was published the Constitution "Cum Inter Multiplices", and on 13 June, 1623, another Constitution, "Cum Nuper", both of which conferred on the congregation ample privileges and immunities in order to facilitate and accelerate its labours. When the financial management increased in importanee, the pope ordered that each of the thirteen cardinals should direct it in turn; at a later date a single cardinal was placed at the head of the financial department. The death of Gregory XV (1624) prevented the founder of the congregation from completing its organization; happily, his successor, Urban VIII (1623-44), was Cardinal Barberini, one of the original thirteen members of the congregation.

After the death of Cardinals Sauli and Ludovisi, Urban VIII directed that there should be but one prefect general of the congregation, and nominated to the office his brother, Cardinal Antonio Barberini (29 Dec., 1632). At the same time he appointed his nephew, a second Cardinal Antonio Barberini, as the auxiliary of the preceding, and later made him his successor. These two open the series of prefects