The Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith) was established by the Roman Catholic Church in the seventeenth century to defend itself against the effects of the Protestant Reformation, to communicate with the peoples of newly discovered lands, and to attempt a spiritual reconquest of lands lost to it in the past. Many of its publications dealt with the alphabet, language, and grammar of the peoples of these lands; the congregation often published dictionaries as well. The congregation’s Introduction to the Armenian Language was prepared by the Jesuit Monk Hakob Vardapet.