Two main thoughts nourished Fr. Berthier’s mind and action constantly. He wanted to promulgate the La Salette message to men to lead them to God. At the same time, he was worried about the lack of missionaries for the missions. The words of the Gospel: «The harvest is abundant but the labourers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest.» (Mt 9:37-38) had been impressed in his thoughts indelibly and dominated his life.

He yearned for the increase of the number of priests for the missions. During the period he worked at the Shrine and conducted spiritual exercises and popular missions he had many times met young men who wanted to become priests, but according to the general opinion at the time they were too old to study. For this reason he wanted to open a seminary for late vocations. This project, however, was disallowed by the superiors of his Congregation.

Pope Leo XIII, instead, urged Fr. Berthier to carry out this work for late vocations. For this purpose, at the age of 55, he went to Grave, in Holland, a city near Nijmegen. There, on 28 September 1895, he founded the Institute for Late Vocations, which subsequently became our Congregation, with approval of the Holy See.

Congregation of Missionaries of the Holy Family, 100 Years after the death of the Founder, Editions du Signe, 2007, p. 8-9