This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "CICM Missionaries" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae(Latin)[1]
Abbreviation	C.I.C.M[1]
Nickname	Missionhurst
Formation	1862; 163 years ago (1862)[1]
Founder	Fr. Théophile Verbist, CICM[1]
Founded at	Scheut,Anderlecht,Brussels-Capital Region,Belgium
Type	Clerical Religious Congregation of Pontifical Right for men[2]
Headquarters	General Motherhouse Via S. Giovanni Eudes 95, 00163 Rome, Italy[1]
Members	780 members (585 priests) as of 2021
Motto	Latin: Cor Unum et Anima Una English: One Heart and one Soul
Superior General	Fr. Charles Phukuta Khonde, CICM[1]
Ministry	Home and foreign mission work
Affiliations	Roman Catholic Church
Website	cicm-mission.org

TheCICM Missionaries, officially known as theCongregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Latin:Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) and often abbreviated asC.I.C.M, is aCatholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men established in 1862 by theBelgian Catholic priestTheophile Verbist (1823–1868).^[3] Its members add the post-nominal letters C.I.C.M. to their names to indicate membership in the congregation.^{[citation needed]}

The order's origins lie inScheut, a suburb ofBrussels, due to which it is widely known as the Scheut Missionaries.^[4][5][6][7] The congregation is most notable for their international missionary works inChina,Mongolia, thePhilippines, and in theCongo Free State/Belgian Congo (modern-dayDemocratic Republic of the Congo).

Presently, their international name "CICM Missionaries" is preferred, although, in theUnited States, the congregation is mostly known as Missionhurst.^[8]

The congregation was founded byThéophile Verbist, who was adiocesan priest in theArchdiocese 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 thePontifical Association of the Holy Childhood. He would lead a group of other Belgian diocesan priests, who became deeply concerned with the abandoned children in China and with the millions in China which, at the time, suffered from widespread poverty. The congregation is named after a religious Marian devotion to theImmaculate Heart of Mary and has sought to expand its missionary work in various countries abroad.^[8]

With theConvention of Peking occurring, the CICM would begin establishing operations in the country in the early 1860s.^{[citation needed]} In 1862, Verbist founded the Belgian Mission in China. Upon seeking ecclesiastical permission, however, they were commissioned byCardinalAlessandro Barnabò to begin their work by founding a seminary in Belgium to supply priests for the beginning mission, laying the foundations of the Scheutveld College, 28 April 1863, in the Field ofScheut near Brussels. As a result, the C.I.C.M. missionaries were also known asScheutists orScheut missionaries.^{[citation needed]}

In September 1863, the first group of missionaries set forth forInner Mongolia.^{[citation needed]} In the winter of 1865, Verbist and his four companions arrived in inner Mongolia, which was entrusted to the fledgling congregation by Rome, and immediately began organizing small Christian communities. Three years later, on 23 February 1868, Verbist died oftyphoid fever at the age of 44 in Lao-Hu-Kou.

The Scheutveld priests and brothers would face dangers such as theBoxer Rebellion in China, the climate of the nations in which missions were conducted, and persecution of the missionaries and their local congregations.^{[citation needed]}

AfterWorld War I, Belgium lay devastated, leading the Missionary Fathers of Scheut to establish a center in a safe location from which they could send out their missionaries.^{[citation needed]} As many Belgian refugees at that time were living in London, it was thought that a church in that city would serve the spiritual needs of the Belgian community of London and also become a base for the Order's missionary activities. In 1922, theChurch of Our Lady of Hal was established in a hut onArlington Road inCamden Town while a permanent church was built opposite this site in 1933.^[9][10]

DuringWorld War II, FatherJozef Raskin, who was a missionary toInner Mongolia from 1920 to 1934, was made achaplain in the Belgian army and was a personal advisor toKing Leopold III.^{[citation needed]} While he was operating under the code name Leopold Vindictive 200 for theDutch resistance in 1942, he was captured by theGestapo and sentenced to death bybeheading on 18 October 1943.^{[citation needed]}

The congregation would grow in the following years, eventually growing to have a worldwide presence.^{[citation needed]} Originally a Belgian Foundation, CICM has grown into an international religious missionary congregation of men from different races, colors and nationalities.

In connection with their missions, the Fathers opened a number of institutions, such the hospital at St-Trudon, Upper Kassai, for those afflicted with sleeping sickness.^{[citation needed]}

Today, 780 CICM priests andlay brothers are present in Asian countries (e.g. Mongolia, Indonesia, and Japan), Africa, the Americas, and in Europe.^{[citation needed]}

The examples and perspective in this sectiondeal primarily with the Philippines and do not represent aworldwide view of the subject. You mayimprove this section, discuss the issue on thetalk page, or create a new section, as appropriate.(September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• Saint Louis University, Baguio
• Saint Louis College, San Fernando, La Union
• University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao, Tuguegarao, Cagayan Valley
• Saint Mary's University, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
• Saint Louis College – Cebu, Mandaue, Cebu
• Maryhurst Seminary, Baguio
• Maryhill School of Theology, Quezon City
• Maryshore Seminary, Bacolod
• Saint Vincent's School, Bontoc, Mountain Province
• Santo Rosario School, Pudtol, Apayao

• 
  A gallery of all CICM missionaries at the Scheut House inAnderlecht, Brussels
• 
  A Relief of Fr. Jules Sepulchre, CICM, inBontoc,Mountain Province, Philippines. He is one of the founding Missionaries in theNorthern Philippines.
• 
  The plate under the relief of Fr. Jules Sepulchre, CICM inBontoc,Mountain Province, Philippines

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCICM Missionaries.

• 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; Pycke, Nestor (1995).C.I.C.M. Missionaries Past and Present: History of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scheut/Missionhurst). Verbistiana. Vol. 4. Leuven: Leuven University Press.ISBN 978-9-06186-676-3.
• Vanysacker, Dries; Renson, Raymond (1995).The Archives of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM-Scheut) (1862–1967) - 2 v. Rome: Bibliothèque de l'Institut Historique Belge de Rome.ISBN 978-9-07446-115-3.

• CICM Missionaries inODIS - Online Database for Intermediary StructuresArchived 2016-04-28 at theWayback Machine
• Archives of the CICM Missionaries inODIS - Online Database for Intermediary StructuresArchived 2016-04-28 at theWayback Machine

• Catholic Church in Belgium
• Religious organizations established in 1862
• Catholic missionary orders
• Roman Catholic missionaries in China
• Catholic religious institutes established in the 19th century
• 1862 establishments in Belgium

• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from June 2015
• All articles needing additional references
• Pages using infobox mapframe with missing coordinates
• Infoboxes without native name language parameter
• Articles containing Latin-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2023
• Articles with limited geographic scope from September 2023
• Philippines-centric
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Webarchive template wayback links