The Ríoplatense project of an agonizing French congregation: Mon voyage à Montevideo by Pierre Donat

As of mid 19thcentury, many European congregations settled in Latin America, driven by different reasons, such as missionary zeal, the policy of local Churches aimed at attracting them, and also the problems some of them were facing in their places of origin. In this context, this article examines the experience in Uruguay of the Society of Saint Joseph (founded in Lyon, France, by Father Joseph Rey) more precisely in the proposed creation of an agricultural school, which would result in the salvation of a congregation in crisis. The concretion of this project determined in 1890 the trip to Uruguay of the Superior of the Institute, Father Pierre Donat. Donat wrote a travel diary, Mon voyage à Montevideo, the analysis of which allows to discover representations of France, Uruguay, and the process of secularization of the late 19thcentury.