CICM Missionaries

File:Scheut schild congreg.jpg

Motto of the Congregation:
"One heart and one soul"

The CICM Missionaries (Latin: Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae, or the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), is a Roman Catholic missionary religious congregation of men established in 1862 by the Belgian Catholic priest, Theophiel Verbist (1823–1868).

Its origins lie in Scheut, Anderlecht, a suburb of Brussels, due to which it is widely known as the Scheut Missionaries. The congregation is most notable for their international missionary works in China, Mongolia, the Philippines and in Congo Free State/Belgian Congo, modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Presently, their international name "CICM Missionaries" is preferred, although, in the United States of America, the congregation is mostly known as Missionhurst.

History

Verbist was a diocesan priest in the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels in the mid-19th century. He served as chaplain to the military academy in Brussels and at the same time as a national director of the Pontifical Association of the Holy Childhood. A compassionate man of God, he led a group of other Belgian diocesan priests who became deeply concerned with the abandoned children in China and with millions of Chinese who lived at that time in ignorance and poverty. The congregation is named after a religious Marian devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and has sought to expand its missionary work in various countries abroad.

Foundation

Verbist's desire to consecrate himself to the life of a missionary seemed on the point of fulfillment when the Treaty of Peking of 1861 opened imperial China to his zeal and that of the little band who desired to accompany him. In 1862 he founded the Belgian Mission in China. On seeking ecclesiastical permission, however, they were commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Barnabò, Prefect of the Propaganda Fide, to begin their work by founding a seminary in Belgium to supply priests for the beginning mission, and laid the foundations of the Scheutveld College, 28 April 1863, in the Field of Scheut, a short distance from Brussels, so the C.I.C.M. missionaries were also known as Scheutists or Scheut missionaries.

The congregation was born not knowing exactly what lay ahead. Their only assurance was their missionary zeal and God’s providence. In September 1863, the first group of missionaries set forth for Inner Mongolia. In the winter of 1865, Verbist and his four companions arrived in inner Mongolia, which was entrusted to the fledgling congregation by Rome, and where they immediately began organizing small Christian communities. The founding Fathers never imagined that many would follow their footsteps notwithstanding the cost of traveling by sea and in the hinterlands of China. Three years later on February 23, 1868, Verbist died of typhoid fever at the age of 45 in Lao-Hu-Kou.

Growth

File:Scheut portrettengalerij.jpg

A gallery of all CICM missionaries at the Scheut House

His foundation, however, grew into the worldwide presence it is today. Originally a Belgian Foundation, CICM has grown into an international religious missionary congregation of men from different races, colors and nationalities who are dedicated to universal brotherhood.

The Scheutveld priests and brothers have faced severe perils, e.g. the Boxer rebellion in China, involving the massacre of Bishop Hamer, Vicar Apostolic of South-Western Mongolia, seven missionaries and 3000 Christians; the even greater decimation of their numbers by the Congo climate, not to mention the persecution of the missionaries and the negro colonies established by them.

In connection with their missions the Fathers opened a number of benevolent institutions, for example the hospital at St-Trudon, Upper Kassai, for those afflicted with sleeping sickness.

Today the 900 CICM priests and lay brothers are present in Asia: in Taiwan, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and Japan; in the vast continent of Africa: in Congo, Cameroon, Zambia, Senegal, and Angola; in the Americas: Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Brazil, Mexico and the United States; and in Europe: Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, France and Germany.

Picture gallery

• Relief of Fr. Jules Sepulchre in the Philippines.jpg

  A Relief of Fr. Jules Sepulchre, CICM, in Bontoc, Mountain Province, Philippines. He is one of the founding Missionaries in the Northern Philippines.

• Plate under the Relief of Fr. Jules Sepulchre.jpg

  The plate under the relief of Fr. Jules Sepulchre, CICM in Bontoc, Mountain Province, Philippines.

Historical table

Chapter	Year	General Superior	New foundations	Members
---	1862	Verbist, Theophiel	Belgium	---
---	1865	---	China	---
---	1869	Vranckx, Frans	---	11
General Conference	1887	---	---	---
---	1888	Van Aertselaer, Jeroom	Congo	112
First General Chapter	1898	Van Hecke, Adolf	---	309
---	1899	---	Netherlands	---
---	1904	---	Rome	---
---	1907	---	Philippines	---
Chapter II	1908	Botty, Albert	---	507
---	1909	Mortier, Florent	---	---
Chapter III	1920	Rutten, Joseph	---	649
Chapter IV	1930	Daems, Constant	---	928
---	1931	---	Singapore	---
---	1935	Vandeputte, Jozef (Gen.vic.)	---	1202
---	1937	---	Indonesia	---
---	1946	---	U.S.A.	---
Chapter V	1947	Vandeputte, Jozef	Japan	1479
---	1953	---	Haiti - Chile (†1957)	---
---	1954	---	Hong Kong - Taiwan	---
---	1954	---	Guatemala	---
Chapter VI	1957	Sercu Frans	---	1902
---	1958	---	Dominican Republic	---
---	1961	Degrijse, Omer	---	1943
---	1963	---	Brazil	---
---	1966	---	Cameroon	---
Chapter VII	1967	Goossens, Wim	---	1986
Chapter VIII	1974	Van Daelen, Paul	---	1683
---	1976	---	Zambia - Senegal	---
---	1977	---	Nigeria (†2003)	---
---	1979	---	México	---
Chapter IX	1981	Van Daelen, Paul (2a)	---	1556
Chapter X	1987	Decraene, Michel	---	1441
---	1990	---	France ('89) Chad ('90)	---
---	1992	---	Mongolia	---
Chapter XI	1993	Thomas, Jacques	---	1380
---	1995	---	Angola (†2007)	1359
Chapter XII	1999	Lapauw, Jozef	Mozambique (†2002)	1247
Chapter XIII	2005	Tsimba, Edouard	---	999
Chapter XIV	2011	Atkin, Timothy W.	Afrique du Sud	892

CICM Schools in Philippines

• Paco Catholic School, Paco, Manila
• Saint Louis College, San Fernando City, La Union
• University of Saint Louis Tuguegararao, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley
• Saint Louis University, Baguio
• Saint Mary's University, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
• Saint Louis School College- Cebu, Mandaue City, Cebu
• Maryhurst Seminary, Baguio City
• Maryhill School of Theology, Quezon City
• Maryshore Seminary, Bacolod City
• Saint Vincent's School, Bontoc, Mountain Province
• College of Immaculate Concepcion,Cabanatuan city, Nueva Ecija
• Cainta Catholic College Cainta, Rizal - Former
• Santo Rosario School, Pudtol, Apayao

Bibliography

• Raskin, Albert (1977) 'The archives of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (C.I.C.M.)', History in Africa, 4, 299–304.
• Berg, Leo van den (1994) 'The China world of the "Scheut fathers"', Bulletin de l 'Institut Historique de Belge de Rome, 64, 223–263.
• Verhelst, Daniël and Pycke, Nestor, eds. (1995) 'C.I.C.M. Missionaries Past and Present: History of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scheut/Missionhurst)', Verbistiana, 4. ISBN /EAN: 9789061866763
• Vanysacker, Dries & Renson, Raymond (ed.) (1995) 'The Archives of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM-Scheut) (1862–1967)' - 2 v., Bibliothèque de l'Institut Historique Belge de Rome, 36-37. ISBN /EAN: 9789074461153