One of the customs of Propaganda, worthy of special mention, is the gift of a fan to all employees at the beginning of the summer. This custom appears to have arisen in the early days, when fans were sent from China by the missionaries. It is customary for the Urban College to hold, at Epiphany, a solemn "Accademia Polyglotta", to symbolize the world-wide unity of the Catholic Church. At this accademia the Propaganda students recite poems in their respective mother tongues. Invited guests always find it very interesting to listen to this medley of the strangest languages and dialects. Another custom of the Urban College is that every graduate student ( alumno ), wherever he may be in the pursuit of his ministry, is bound to write every year a letter to the cardinal prefect, to let him know how the writer's work is progressing and how he fares himself. The cardinal answers immediately, in a letter of paternal encouragement and counsel. By this means there is maintained a bond of affection and of mutual goodwill between the "great mother " -- as the "Propagandists", or the alumni of Propaganda, designate the congregation -- and her most distant sons.

The names of many distinguished persons appear in the records of Propaganda, notably in the catalogue of its cardinals, prelates, and officials. Among the cardinal prefects entitled to special mention are the following: Giuseppe Sagripanti (d. 1727), a meritorious reformer of Roman judicial procedure; the very learned Barnabite Sigismondo Gerdil (d. 1802); Stefano Borgia, patron of Oriental studies, protector of the savant Zoega (d. 1804); Ercole Consalvi (d. 1824), the great diplomatist, Secretary of State to Pius VII, at whose death he was made prefect general of Propaganda by Leo XII; Mauro Cappellari later Gregory XVI, who was prefect general from 1826 to his election as pope (1831). Among the General Secretaries (who usually become cardinals) the following are particularly worthy of special mention: Domenico Passionei, created cardinal in 1738; Nicolò Fortiguerra, a distinguished man of letters (d. 1739); the erudite Angelo Mai, secretary from 1833 to 183S. The list of missionaries sent forth by Propaganda has been long and glorious, containing the names of many martyrs. The protomartyr of Propaganda is St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a German Capuchin, missionary in Grisons, Switzerland. The Calvinists killed him in the village of Sercis, 24 April, 1622. He was canonized by Benedict XIV in 1746. Propaganda holds at all times a grateful memory of the Discalced Carmelites. It was they who vigorously urged the Holy See to found the congregation, foremost among them being Domenico di Gesu e Maria, general of the order. In the original act of its foundation he appears as a member. Tommaso da Gesu, another Carmelite, opportunely published in 1613, at Antwerp, a Latin work on the obligation of preaching the Gospel to all nations.

Many authors have treated of Propaganda very inaccurately, and have confused the ancient and recent systems of administration. The most reliable of the earlier writers are: DE LUCA, Il Cardinale Practico; CORNELIUS, Informationi intorno al Cardinalato (Rome, 1653); BAYER AND MENZEL, Breve compendium hist. S. Congr. de Prop. Fide (Königsberg, 1721); POLLARD, Les ministres ecclésiastiques du S. Siège (Lyons, 1878); LEGA, Praelectiones in textum juris canonici (Rome 1898); ANON., La Propaganda e la conversione de' suoi beni immobili (Rome 1884); HUMPHREY, Urbs et Orbis (London, 1899), 380-386. Cf. also MYERS, Die Propaganda, ihre Provinzen und ihr Recht; BANGEN, Die römische Curie (Münster, 1854); PEIPER in Römische Quartalschrift, I (1889), for the Archives. For the most important Coptic codices formerly preserved by Propaganda see ZGEGA, Catalagus Codic. Copt. MSS. Musoei Borgiani (Rome, 1810); MEIER, Die Propaganda (Göttingen, 1852); LEITNER, De Curia Romana (1909).

U. BENIGNI.