The Austrian St. Raphael-Verein for the protection of emigrants

In the long 19th century more than five million people emigrated from the Habsburg Monarchy. Who stood by these people on their arduous journey? One of the first and most important organisations to become involved in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was the Austrian St. Raphael Association. This Catholic association named itself after the already existing institution of the emigrant welfare service in the German Reich and was part of an international network. In the most important port cities around the world the association set up shelters and appointed men of trust to offer a wide range of help 'on the spot'. A range of social (information advice help with money exchange or baggage procurement) liturgical (church services sacraments celebration of mass on ocean liners) and pastoral care (consolation support confession) guaranteed holistic support and gave the women men and children in their emigration stations a feeling of security and integration into a national community at least in part.