Fr.

Theophile Verbist:
The Founder
Life of Fr. Theophile Verbist
Born in Antwerp, Belgium on 12 June 1823
Parents
. 1. Hewas on the staff of the minor seminary,
2. the Chaplain of the Military Academy in
Brussels, 3. the Chaplain of the Sisters of
Notre Dame de Namur, and the 4. National
Director of the Pontifical Association of the
Holy Childhood. These involvements made
him deeply concerned about the
abandoned children in China and the
millions of Chinese who lived at that time in
ignorance and poverty.
Chaplain to the military school in Brussel
The first half of the nineteenth century saw a
boom in Marian devotion in Flanders.

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception,

proclaimed by Pope Pius IX (1792-1878) in
1854, was a highpoint of veneration.
First, handwritten
version of the new
congregation’s
statutes, 1862.
HIS DEATH

On 23 February 1868, only two years after having

arrived in Mongolia, Verbist was struck down by
typhus near Lao-Hu-Kou. He was buried in the local
chapel.
Verbist’s effigy in
Scheut around
the time his
mortal remains
were transferred
in 1931.
Solemnity for Verbist
at Scheut on the
occasion of the
transfer of his mortal
remains, 10 May
1931
THE CICM STORY
Quick Facts:
• CICM – Congregatio
Immaculati Cordis
Mariae
• Founded
November 28, 1862
• Founder: Theophile
Verbist
• Place: Scheut, Brussels
Belgium
 The CICM:
• Also known as the Scheut
Fathers or Scheutists

• In US, they are Missionhurst

Missionaries

• In the Philippines, they are

Identified as Belgian
Missionaries
The Founder: Theophile Verbist
• A Diocesan Priest from
Antwerp, Belgium

• Served as a Staff in a
minor Seminary , chaplain
in a Military academy and
as a Director of the Sisters
of Notre Dame de Namur
• National Director of the Pontifical Association of the
Holy Childhood in 1860.

• He was determined to establish a Belgian Mission in

China after the realization of the Treaty of Peking.

• It was then approved by Cardinal Engelbert

Sterckx and Cardinal Allessandro Barnabo
to establish a congregation.

THUS, in November 28, 1862, the CICM was founded

in SCHEUT, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
• In 1865, Fr. Verbist and
Three conferrers arrived in
Inner Mongolia and took
Over the Vicariate Apostolic
From the Lazarists.

• On February 23, 1868, Fr.

Verbist died due to typhoid
Fever in a small village of
Lao Hu Kou at the age of 45
 CICM in the World Mission
• In 1888, CICM established its mission in Congo.

• In 1907, CICM responded to the call of

ministering to the needs of the Philippine
Church.

• In 1931, CICM Missionaries arrived in Singapore

to minister foreign workers and sea farers and to
promote inter religious dialogue.
• In 1937, the CICM
established its Miss-
ion in Indonesia.

• During the second

World war, CICM
Established a permanent Mission in United States

• In 1948, the CICM started Ministering Japan

through Inter Religious Dialogue.
• In 1953, Haiti started to receive CICM Missionaries
• In 1954, CICM started working in Hong Kong,Taiwan,
and Guatemala

• In 1958, Filipino CICMs

started their Mission in
Dominican Republic.

• 1963- Brazil

• 1966- Cameroon
• 1976 – Zambia and Senegal

• 1977 - Nigeria

• 1979 – Mexico

• 1990 – Chad

• 1992 – Mongolia

• 1995 – Angala

• 1999 - Mozambique
THE CICM TODAY
 The CICM Mission and Charism:
• The CICM is an international religious Missionary
congregation, dedicated to the Incarnate Word
under the name and patronage of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.

• The CICM Missionary is called to go beyond

geographical and religious boundaries to share
Jesus Christ with all those who do not know him
The Logo and Motto:
Stage 1: The Coat of Arms of the “Belgian
Mission for China”

❖ The oldest coat of arms

❖ Congregatio Missionis Begicae ad Sinas
sub Titulo Cordis Immaculati Beatae
Mariae Virginis prope sacellum Nostrae
Dominae de Gratia in Scheut
Stage 2: The Coat of Arms of the “Mission
for China, Mongolia and Congo”

❖ The mission in Congo – began in 1888.

❖ Felt the need to redo the coat of arms of
the congregation - signed by Jeroom Van
Aertselaer, Superios General, dated
August 25, 1891.
Stage 2: The Coat of Arms of the “Mission
for China, Mongolia and Congo”

❖ Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Beatea

Mariea Virginis, Scheutveld: Missiones
Sinensis, Mongolensis, Congolensis.
Stage 3: The Emblem of the Constant
Daems

❖ Decision taken from by the general

government during the meeting –
October 5, 1933. There is a coat of the
new arms approved.
❖ Sigillum Congregationis Immaculati Cordis
Mariae, Sheut
Stage 3: The Emblem of the Constant
Daems

Acts of the Apostle 4: 32 – The whole group

of believers was united, heart and soul – C.
Daems chose this motto of brotherhood and
joy what would become a missionary motto.
Stage 3: The Emblem of the Constant
Daems

“Religious missionaries of different races

and cultures, we live and work together as
brothers and sister” (1988 CICM
Constitutions)
Stage 3: The Emblem of the Constant
Daems

“The ideal of the first Christian community,

one heart, one soul” (Acts 4:32)

- CICM Constitutions commentary 1989

Stage 4: The Current Emblem (1955)
The CICM Motto

“One Heart, One Soul”

- The Brotherhood of the CICM Missionaries
despite coming from different nations

The motto “One Heart and One Soul”

obviously refers to a fundamental aspect of
the vocation of CICM priests and brothers
who are joined to live and work together out
of diverse nationalities and cultures.
As such, “. . .they are a sign of solidarity among the particular
Churches in their universal mission” (Art. 2, Provisional
Constitutions of 1968), and hence, they witness to universal
brotherhood. Acts 4:32 describes the early Church thus: “The
whole group of believers was united, heart and soul. “This
sentence expresses God’s ideal about humankind, his
creation. What does it mean? Jesus came to reveal that God
is our Father, that he wants to be everybody’s Father. This is
the core of the Gospel message. In Jesus, we are God’s
children through the Spirit’s power. Consequently, we are
brothers and sisters of the same family”. From Pyke, pp. 9-
10.
The outer left and right portions
of the CICM emblem include the
motto “Cor Unum et Anima
Una”, or as adopted in the
Philippines, “Sampuso, Sandiwa.”
Charism:
*Ad Extra ( towards the outside)
– Ad Gentes (To the Nations)
*Ad Intra ( to the inside)
- Like our founder each one of us, heard the call of Christ:
“Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Gospel to all
creation.” (Mk 16:15) “Like our founder, each one of us heard
the call of Christ: ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the
Gospel to all creation.’ (Mk 16:15) We are sent to the nations
to announce the Good News, wherever our missionary
presence is most needed, especially where the Gospel is not
known or lived. We leave our country to proclaim salvation
as the great gift of God which liberates from everything that
oppresses and divides people. Following Jesus, we address
ourselves preferentially to the poor as the privileged
recipients of the Kingdom of God”
Ad extra, ad intra therefore expresses the reality of
a CICM missionary vocation: to be a CICM is to leave
one’s home, family and culture, and even one’s
country (ad extra) or simply one’s region, to learn a
new language and a new culture, to be with other
people. The understanding/stress now is not
necessarily therefore to physically leave one’s
country, but to respond to a situation where one’s
missionary presence is most needed (ad intra).
 “The Core of the CICM
missionary character is
Christ- Centered spirituality
for the mission.”
The Legacy of the CICM in the
Philippines:
Education:
Churches:
Evangelization:
At PRESENT:
Thank you….