After the great upheaval and persecution which the Church suffered in France during the Revolution, the clergy and laity sought from heaven extraordinary graces in order to bring about the salvation of souls, for most of the people had left the True Faith. In 1808 the Archbishop of Lyons, Joseph Cardinal Fesch, asked Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan to gather a group of zealous priests to take up the vital task of re-evangelizing a devastated France. Father Rauzan's thirst for souls and for all that is holy led him to accept this work and form the Missionaries of France, which would later become known as the Fathers of Mercy.