Society of St. Peter the Apostle
The Society of St. Peter the Apostle (SPA) is the Catholic Church’s official fundraising body for the training of clergy and religious in mission countries. It was founded in 1889 by Stephanie and Jeanne Bigard at the request of Jules-Alphonse Cousin, then bishop of Nagasaki. In 1922, the Society obtained papal patronage from Pope Pius XI and received the task of supporting every existing Catholic seminary in the world.
Today the SPA is established in 157 countries. It supports 1,069 mission dioceses and funds the training of 31,000 major seminarians and 10,000 novices.
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