The Assumptionist Fathers

The Augustinians of the Assumption arrived in Hitchin in 1925 to take over the parish and the College of St Michael in the Summer of 1926.

The Assumptionists, as they are known, were founded by the Venerable Emmanuel d'Alzon in 1850 at the College of the Assumption in Nimes in the South of France - hence the name of the Order which follows the Rule of St Augustine.

They were founded to promote education in all its forms and to support and build up the Church and its values and principles as well as to work for the unity of Christians and promote the faith as missionaries.

An outgoing Order, basing itself on the prayer of the Church at the heart of which is the Eucharist, we seek to promote the love of Jesus Christ by all people and draw them to love that which He loved most in the world - His Mother and His Church.

Their work in England is largely parish based now with a house to promote the service of vocations to the life of the Church and the religious life. We have strong connections with the John Henry Newman School in Stevenage and support the Diocese of Nottingham with the Becket Comprehensive School. We are actively supporting the needs of the marginalised through Emmanuel House, a drop-in Centre.

We are an international Congregation with houses around the five continents. With the decline of the Cold War we have been able to revive our work in Russia, Romania and Bulgaria. Several students are now studying with us to revive the Church in these areas.

We are also founded to promote pilgrimages. The Order has been responsible for setting up pilgrimages to Lourdes from the earliest days and also for reviving pilgrimages to the Holy Land and expanding them so that they are for the use of ordinary people. Our first house in Jerusalem was, in fact, a hostel that could accomodate 600 people.We are expanding rapidly in Africa, among the local populations, and have sent local people to share the Faith with other African nations.