I. A Religious Society Founded By St. Philip Neri

(See Neri, Filippo de'.) In 1551 Neri associated with himself several young priests, and gradually matured the plan of the " Congregation of the Oratory." The congregation was formally established in 1564, confirmed in 1575 by Pope Gregory XIII., and again by Paul V. in 1612. During the lifetime of St. Philip the congregation extended through all parts of Italy, new houses being established at Florence, Naples, Lucca, Padua, and many other places. Neri remained the superior of the congregation till 1503, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Baronius. The congregation was chiefly confined to Italy till 1848, when, at the suggestion of Bishop (afterward Cardinal) Wiseman, two houses of the Oratory were established in England by John Henry Newman, one in London, and the other at Edgbaston near Birmingham. II. An order founded in France in 1611 by the abbe (afterward Cardinal) Bérulle, and confirmed by a bull of Paul V., May 10, 1613, under the name of " Priests of the Oratory of Jesus." Their aim was the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline among the clergy.

They spread rapidly in France and elsewhere, and during the lifetime of their founder houses were established at Madrid, Rome, and Constantinople, and in Savoy and the Netherlands. The congregation soon became distinguished for the great number of eminent scholars among its members. They were deeply involved in the Jansenist controversy, and at the election of several superiors general they were divided into a Jansenist and an anti-Jansenist party. After the outbreak of the French revolution a considerable number of Oratorians joined the constitutional church. The congregation itself, with all other religious associations, was dissolved. On Aug. 16, 1852, six French priests, under the guidance of the abbe Petétot, undertook to restore the French Oratory. In 1864 the new congregation, under the title of the "Oratory of Christ our Lord and of Mary Immaculate," was approved by the pope. It received its chief illustration from Fathers Gra-try and Perraud, and is known as the Oratory of the Immaculate Conception.