The Foundation of the

CICM
 1861
• The “Treaty of Perking” opened imperial
China to the West and to the arrival of
missionaries.
Fr. Alois Van Segvelt
- Fr. Verbist’s companion in laying out a plan for a congregation of
Belgian priests devoted to forming a mission in China.

Cardinal Engelbert Sterck

-• The Archbishop of Malines who approved the set statutes for the
Congregation on November 28, 1862
 CICM
Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae

(Latin)
FR. THEOPHILE Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of
VERBIST
(Superior) Mary
(English)
Kongregasyon ng Kalinis-linisang Puso ni
Maria
(Filipino)
Cardinal Barnabo
- Prefect of the Propaganda Fide who commissioned CICM to begin
with founding a seminary in Belgium for their missionary work in
China.

•
The Fulfillment of the Mission
in China
 August 25, 1865
The first missionary team left Brussels:

•Belgians: Fr. Theophile Verbist

Fr. Alois Van Segvelt
Fr. Frans Vranckx
•Dutchman: Fr. Ferdinand Hammer

•A layman: Paul Splingard

December 6, 1865
 Fr. Verbist’s team arrived in Siwantze, Mongolia
 This time, China was overrun with an infectious illness which is known as
Typhoid fever.

April 5, 1867
 Fr. Alois Van Segvelt, co-founder of CICM, was the first to die in China
because of typhoid fever.

February 23, 1868

 Fr. Theophile Verbist died of typhoid fever at the age of 45.
“Our mission will not flourish
until there has been a victim…
If it pleases God that I should
be this victim… His will be
done.”
- Fr. Theophile Verbist