would be lay persons, involved in providing the missionary support structures which the work demanded. This concept had undergone a number of transformations. The members have been known at various times as Zelators, Friends, Promoters and Supporters. The present day section for England and Wales has now become completely transformed and is known as APF-Mill Hill. The Catholic model was that of the Irish Major Seminaries such as Maynooth, Carlow and All Hallows. These trained Irish priests for service all over the world. The products of these seminaries promoted alumni associations, but they had no intention at all of becoming part of a religious institute. It will be seen that, in Madras especially, this vision of the Mill Hill Missionaries persisted right up till the 1920s. The Mill Hill Missionaries themselves had progressed beyond this understanding, but they had difficulty persuading others to accept their own sense of special identity. Early Concerns One of Vaughan’s early priorities was to recruit a proper training staff. He tried at first to recruit the services of orders of priests who specialized in seminary training. It soon became evident, however, that these orders might produce good priests; but they would have failed to nurture among them any sense of common bonding. He turned then to individual priests who might be willing to work alongside him for a few years. Eventually Vaughan’s own trainees might be able to take over. Notable among those who accepted this invitation were Peter Benoit, George Braun and Bernard Chevillion. When eventually St. Joseph’s Society was founded, these three volunteer trainers became candidates for membership. It is nevertheless not clear at all that, in early 1871, Vaughan realized that he was founding a new religious institute. His public statements at the time indicate that his overriding concern was something different. He spoke more of the establishment of an association similar to those of the CMS and the SPG. As late as July 1872, he described this in The Tablet: This is an association of clergymen and zealous men and women, who are united together in a determination to carry out, so far as they can, the work of the Apostles and to spread Christianity among the yet unconverted races of the earth. The first published statement that there was a special society of priest members is in The Tablet, 8th November 1873. This statement is from the hand of Canon Peter Benoit.
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