Saint Louis University

School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts

Department of Religion
Christian Faith Education 104: CICM Missionary Identity

CHAPTER 1: CICM SPIRITUALITY

A. The Name: Congregatio Immaculate Cordis Mariae
 Congregation of Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) was founded in 1862.
- It is a Catholic, Religious and Missionary institute.
- The group chose to name the Congregation after the Immaculate Heart of Mary
because the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1954 was
causing the rapid spread of the name “Immaculate Heart of Mary”, and the liturgical
feast of and the devotion to her was adopted about everywhere in the world.
- In addition, they chose this name for his newly founded missionary institute as a
way of honoring Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, and placing his institute under
her patronage.

 The name of CICM in Europe

- They are widely known as the “Missionaries of Scheut” or “Scheutist”.
o Scheut
= A village outside of Brussels in Belgium where the institute was
founded. It is also where statuette of Our Lady of Grace was venerated. Our
Lady of Grace (also known as Mother of Grace or Our Lady of the Bowed Head)
= Witnessed or found by Dominic of Jesus Mary, a Carmelite Monk, in
Rome in 1610. Dominic of Jesus Mary established the first hermitage, or desert,
on the mountains of Varazze (1618). “Our Lady made her promises to all who
would honor and pray to her before this miraculous image. Therefore, I can no
longer keep this holy picture in my cell. I must have it put in a church where the
people can honor it.”
= Prayer to Our Lady of Grace
Virgin most holy, Mother of the Word Incarnate,
Treasurer of graces and Refuge of sinners;
we fly to your motherly affection with lively faith,
and we beg of you the grace to do the will of God.
Into your most holy hands we commit the keeping of our hearts,
asking you for health of soul and body, in the certain hope that
you, our most loving Mother, will hear our prayer.
Therefore with lively faith we say:
“Hail Mary…” (three times)
- In the past CICM missionaries were sometimes known as the “Belgian Fathers”
since the institute was founded in Belgium and most of its members were Priest.
However, the institute was never an exclusively Belgium institute and includes both
priest and brothers. Thus this name has fallen out of use, especially as the institute
becomes more and more multicultural.
 The name of CICM in North America or US
- The institute is known as “Missionhurst – CICM” and its members referred to as
“Missionhurst Priests and Brothers”. Hurst is an old English word meaning a small
hill or a wooded rise. As the headquarters of the missionary institute in North
 America are located on a small wooded hill, this became the popular name of the
institute in that part of the world.

B. The Founder: Theophile Verbist and His First Companions (van Segvelt, Vranckx, Verlinden)
 Theophile Verbist (1823-1868)
- Born in 1823 in Atrwerp, Belgium.
- A diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels in Belgium.
- He was on the staff of the minor seminary, the chaplain of the Military Academy in
Brussels, the Chaplain of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, and the National
Director of the Pontifical Association of the Holy Childhood.
- He died on February 23, 1868 due to typhoid fever in Laohugou, China
 Alois van Segvelt (1826-1867)
 Frans Vranckx (1830-1911)
 Remi Verlinden (1830-1892)

C. The Service and Spirituality: Dedicated to Jesus, the Incarnate Word

 The heart of the CICM Spirituality is “completely centered on the Incarnation of the
Word, as its principal source”. That is the reason why the CICM is at the service of
Redemption.
 Art. 12-16 of the CICM Constitutions of 1988 deal with this dedication to the Incarnate
Word – this constant reference to the person of Jesus should profoundly characterize
the whole life of a CICM missionary: “We must thus enter into the life and the Mission
of him who ‘emptied himself, taking the form of a servant’ (Phil 2:7). Thus, the
incarnation of the Word inspires all our missionary commitment. The Incarnation Word
is our fundamental inspiration.”

D. The Patroness: Mary, the Intercessor for the CICM (as model of mission in the CICM schools);
Mary, the Mother of Incarnate Word
 Fr. Verbist and his first companions during their first in a series of meetings drew up the
statutes of the new Congregation unanimously agreed to consecrate the Mission to the
Incarnate Word and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, “…to whom they committed
themselves to recommend daily the interests of the Congregation.”
 Article 16 of the CICM Constitution connects Mary to Jesus, to whom the CICM identity
and mission are hinged: “God chose Mary to be the Mother of the Incarnate Word. In
her, He reveals himself as the One who exalts the lowly. She has special place in our
lives as missionaries of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” The CICM
missionary therefore is invited to look into Mary’s heart in her unqualified “yes” to the
call of the Father to follow Jesus.
E. The Logo or The CICM Emblem: The Four Stages of the CICM Emblem

1. The current CICM emblem includes in its upper portion the Virgin with a Child inside a trunk,
who is Our Lady of Grace of Scheut.
2. The cross in the topmost of the CICM Emblem: the cross means poverty, suffering,
deprivation and failure that often mark the life of the missionaries and their enterprises. But
the cross also always carries in it the seed of life and resurrection.
3. The lower right portion of the CICM emblem shows a heart surrounded by twelve stars; this
is a clear reference to the traditional catholic interpretation of Rev 12:1.
- Revelation 12:1
o A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the
moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head (NIV).
4. 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”.

F. The Motto: Cor Unum et Anima Una

 “One Heart and One Soul” 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. It is the brotherhood of the CICM Missionaries despite coming
from different nations.
 As such, “…they are a sign of solidarity among the particular Churches in their universal
mission” (Art. 2, Provisional Constitution of 1968), and hence, they witness to universal
brotherhood.
 Acts 4:32 describes the early church as “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 brothers
and sisters of the same family. (Pyke, pp. 9-10)

G. The Charism: Ad Extra, Ad Intra

 Go out to the whole World; proclaim the Gospel to all creation (Mk. 16:15)
- Like Theophile Verbist each one of us, heard the call of Christ. We are sent to the
nations to announce the Good News, whenever 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
- Expresses the reality of a CICM missionary vocation.
- Ad Extra
o To be a CICM is to leave one’s home, family and culture, and even one’s
country or one’s region, to learn a new language and a new culture, to be
with other people.
o Key Features of CICM Ad Extra
1. Global mindset – doing mission beyond geographical and cultural
borders.
2. Social transformation – breaking new grounds of building a better
world.
3. Proactive strategy – leaving one’s comfort zones to explore other
possibilities.
4. Readiness to serve others – making oneself available to where one’s
expertise is required.
5. Option for the poor – caring for the marginalized and abandoned
members of society.
- Ad Intra
o The understanding is not necessarily therefore to physically leave one’s
country, but to respond to a situation where one’s missionary presence is
most needed.

H. The First Mission and CICM Pioneers

In the winter of 1865, Theophile Verbist together with four zealous companions (Alois
van Segvelt, Frans Vranckx, Ferdinand Hamer, Paul Splingaerd) arrived in inner Mongolia
(Xiwanzi), the immense territory north of the Great Wall of China, which was entrusted to the
fledgling Congregation by Rome.
*Bishop Ferdinand Hamer (1840-1900)
- The only Dutch Priest among the First Scheut missionaries to China.
- He was assassinated by the Chinese two years before during the Boxer Rebellion.
*Paul Splingaerd
- The only layman among the Scheut missionaries.
- Became an official or mandarin (bureaucrat) in the late Qing government.
- Founded Suzhou Small Pox Clinic