Abbé Fernand Portal
1855-1926

Malines Conversations (Member, 1921-1926)

Fernand Portal was born in 1855 in Laroque, France and after school he entered the seminary, being ordained a priest of St. Vincent de Pauls Congregation of the Mission, also known as Lazarists or Vincentians, at the age of 25. The Lazarists are a congregation of secular priests with religious vows, with a vocation to work among the poorest and most underprivileged, who also became the inspiration for the Society of the Holy Cross in the Anglican Church, to which many of todays Ordinariate priests belonged. He is called anapostle of unityon account of his many efforts to establish better relations between Anglicans and the Holy See. He worked for this cause especially during the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII, who was exploring the possibility of union with the Anglican Church.

Documents authored by Abbé Fernand Portal