Early History
Upon its appearance in 1880, the first version of la Croix was a monthly news magazine. When the Augustinians of the Assumption who ran the paper realised that the monthly format was not getting the widespread readership they desired, they decided to convert to a daily sheet sold at one penny. Accordingly La Croix transitioned into a daily on 16 June 1883. Father Emmanuel d'Alzon (1810–1880), the founder of the Assumptionists and the Oblates of the Assumption, started the paper, although its biggest early advocate was Father Vincent-de-Paul Bailly.
La Croix succeeded in bringing together certain groups of Roman Catholics who were seeking to position themselves outside of party politics and ideologies. At the end of the 19th century, it was the most widely read Roman Catholic publication in France, with a clerical readership of more than 25,000. It gained more readers during the Dreyfus affair with its vicious and sustained antisemitism. On 25 January 1900, the Assumptionists were dissolved by law by Waldeck-Rousseau, and the newspaper's publishing house, la Bonne Presse, was purchased by Paul Féron-Vrau.
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