There are a number ofRoman Catholicreligious orders or congregations withImmaculate Conception in their name. Several of them are discussed here.
TheMissionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God (abbreviated SMIC) are aninstitute ofreligious sisters in theRoman Catholic Church. The congregation belongs to theThird Order Regular of St. Francis. They were founded in 1910 inSantarém, Brazil, by Armand August Bahlmann,OFM, and Mother Immaculata (born Elizabeth Tombrock), both natives of Germany, to educate the children of the poor throughout the world.
The Order of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, otherwise known as the "Conceptionists", was founded in 1484 atToledo,Spain, byBeatrice of Silva, sister ofBlessed Amadeus of Portugal. The foundress determined on the habit, which was white, with a whitescapular and blue mantle.[1]
The Mission Priests of the Immaculate Conception, also known as the Missionaries of Rennes, was founded at St-Méen in theDiocese of Rennes, byJean-Marie-Robert de Lamennais, for the care of the diocesanseminary and the holding of missions. It subsequently united with the Society of St. Peter, established by his younger brother,Félicité de Lamennais, in 1829 at La Chênaie, forming the Congrégation de Saint-Pierre.[1]
The Servites of the Immaculate Conception were founded atConstantinople in 1864 byPeter Kharischirashvili, aGeorgianHieromonk formerly of theMekhitarist Congregation inSan Lazzaro Island, to minister to the spiritual wants of theGeorgian people. The congregation was confirmed byPius IX, 29 May 1875. Approval was given for the use of three rites,Roman Rite,Armenian Rite, and theByzantine Rite in the traditionalOld Georgianliturgical language. The first two were for use among the Georgians in their native country, the last to keep up the Greek-Georgian Rite in the monastery at Constantinople, which was the mother-house of the congregation.[1]
The priests of the Immaculate Conception got charge of three congregations atConstantinople, one atFeri-kuei, for Georgians and Armenians, another for the Latins atScutari, and a third for Georgian Greek Catholics atPera.[1]
Candidates for the priesthood were ordained inSaratov by theBishop of Tiraspol, who was the ecclesiastical superior of theCatholic Church in Georgia; for a time they filled parish duties as secular priests, after which they were appointed by the congregation to a post where they might minister to their countrymen.[1]
TheSister Servites of the Immaculate Conception conducted two primary schools, to which children are admitted, without distinction of creed.[1]
According to Father Christopher Zugger, nine Servite missionaries from Constantinople, headed byExarchShio Batmanishvili, came to theDemocratic Republic of Georgia to permanently establish theByzantine Rite inOld Georgian there, and by 1929 their faithful had grown to 8,000.[2] Tragically, their mission came to an end with the arrests of Exarch Shio and his priests by theSoviet secret police in 1928, their imprisonment in theGulag atSolovki prison camp, and their subsequent murder byJoseph Stalin'sNKVD atSandarmokh[3] in 1937.[4]
TheMissionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are members of areligious congregation of women dedicated to serve in the nations of the world most in need. Founded in 1902 byDélia Tétreault (1865-1941) in Canada, they were the first such institute established in North America. Members of the congregation use the postnominal initials ofM.I.C.
Founded atJodoigne, in 1833, definitively established at Champion nearNamur (also in Belgium) in 1836, by Canon Jean-Baptiste-Victor Kinet, for the instruction of children, the care of orphan asylums and the service of the sick and prisoners.[1]
In 1858 the congregation received the approbation of the Apostolic See, and shortly afterwards the confirmation of its statutes. By 1876 there were 150 convents in Belgium, England, Italy and the United States. The mother-house is at Champion.[1]
A branch of the Association of theHoly Family of Bordeaux, founded in France in 1820 byPierre-Bienvenu Noailles, acanon of that city, who conceived the idea of founding a congregation to allow the expression of the Christian life in various forms. In 1820 he placed the first three members of the Holy Family in a house at Bordeaux, under the name of theLadies of Loreto. As the numbers increased the sisters were divided by their founder into two categories: (1) Those engaged directly in the various works undertaken by the Institute; (2) Lay sisters who perform household duties, and are called the Sisters of St. Martha. These are sub-divided into three branches: (a) TheSisters of St. Joseph who undertake the charge of orphans; (b) TheSisters of the Immaculate Conception, who devote themselves to educational work; (c) TheSisters of Hope, who nurse the sick. The Institute encountered much opposition at first, but the constitutions have now been canonically approved by the Holy See. The works of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are numerous; they devote themselves to educational work and visiting the poor.
In the early 20th century they had 15 convents inGreat Britain andIreland, to all of which and to five boarding-schools elementary schools are attached. About 230 sisters taught in these convents, the Englishnovitiate being atRock Ferry,Cheshire, the other English houses: at Great Prescot Street,London, E.;Leeds;Sicklinghall,Yorkshire;Stockport;Macclesfield;Stalybridge;Woodford,Essex;Ramsgate;Liscard,Cheshire;Birkenhead; also inWrexham, Wales; and inLeith, Scotland. Attached to the Leeds convent is a juniorate for testing vocations.
The habit in England only is blue with a white girdle and a blackveil.
Twenty years afterPope Pius IX's Apostolic Constitution,Ineffabilis Deus, the Archdiocese of New Orleans's second indigenous religious congregation of women was founded, as theSisters of the Immaculate Conception. They were founded inLabadieville,Louisiana, by the French-born Reverend Cyprien Venissat and Miss Adelaide Elvina Vienne. A former school-teacher, she took the veil (as Mother Mary of the Immaculate Conception, CIC) from the Most ReverendNapoléon-Joseph Perché, on 11 July 1874. Mother Mary died in 1885, at the age of 48.
Their habit consisted of a black tunic and a blue scapular in honor of the Virgin Mary.
The Community was a teaching order among the young in the State of Louisiana. Following theSecond Vatican Council, however, the order's ranks dwindled (as with so many other communities) and by 8 December 2024, there was only one living member, Sister Jerome.
In the 2007 film,The Church on Dauphine Street (by Ann Hedreen and Rustin Thompson), their former mother-house, the Immaculate Conception Convent, is featured. Built in 1932, it is now the St Gerard Majella Center and Archdiocesan Deaf Ministry. The film traces its restoration following the catastrophicHurricane Katrina.
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The order "Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Mary" (RCM, Concepcionistas Misioneras de la Enseñanza) was founded in 1892 inBurgos, Spain by sister St.Carmen Sallés y Barangueras along with three other sisters. The sisters opened schools in several parts ofSpain. Later sites inBrazil and in other countries in the world were established. The Sisters of the Immaculate Conception founded by Carmen Sallés work in the following countries: Spain, Brazil,Venezuela,Japan,United States (California),Dominican Republic,Equatorial Guinea,Democratic Republic of Congo,Italy,Philippines,Korea,Mexico,India,Republic of Congo,Indonesia andHaiti.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Congregation of the Immaculate Conception".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.Bibliography to the Louisiana Order
