Life of father theophile verbist

Considering the busy schedule of parish life and activities during Holy Week this past Spring, the notion of travelling to Arlington, Virginia immediately following Easter Sunday was exhausting.  However, I had also been looking forward to attending the CICM US province assembly—taking place the week after Easter—so to Arlington I went.  As soon as I arrived, I was energized by the joyful attitudes of all my confreres.  Our US Provincial (Fr. Charles Phukuta, cicm) opened the assembly on Monday, April 21st with a morning prayer.  Afterward, the assembly business began with his State of the Province address, in which he clearly articulated our CICM calling both in the past and at present.  He concluded by presenting a vision for the future: a vision that had been expressed and composed by several confreres who participated in the preparations for the assembly.  Then there were presentations regarding the province finances, our Internship program, and also various aspects of promotion.  The amount of thought, planning and coordination involved with this assembly were evident. We’re all grateful to the provincial office, assembly committee and facilitator (Brother Paul) for their effective input and leadership. 

 

Our sessions followed the themes: Discover, Dream, Design and Destiny.  The participation was very active and our discussions, both in small groups and as the whole assembly, were informative and inspiring.  It is always a joyful occasion to be able to meet with and listen to other confreres.  It’s rewarding to appreciate both the wisdom of the older confreres, and the enthusiasm of the younger ones—especially when we have a chance to share these attributes and collaborate with one another.

 

 

During our discussions, I noticed that the concept of having a dream caught our attention and interest throughout much of the assembly.  Obviously we are not the first to begin the work

Verbist, Theophile

Founder of the Congregation of the immaculate heart of mary (Scheut Missionaries); b. Antwerp, Belgium, June 12, 1823; d. Lao-hu-kou, Inner Mongolia, Feb. 23, 1868. Of a middle-class family, he became a secular priest of the Archdiocese of Mechelen, ordained Sept. 18, 1846. He became successively subregent at the Mechelen minor seminary, chaplain at the École Militaire in Brussels, and national director of the Holy Childhood Association in 1860. He requested permission to establish a Belgian Mission in some port city of China and was urged by the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith to establish a congregation of foreign missionaries. He became superior general of his congregation Nov. 28, 1862, and pronounced his vows Oct. 24, 1864, in the 15th-century chapel of Our Lady of Grace at Scheut, a suburb of Brussels. He became provicar apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate of Mongolia, September 12, and arrived in Hsi-wan-tzu on Dec. 6, 1865. Verbist undertook the direction of the major seminary in Hsi-wan-tzu and within a year arranged the transfer of all mission stations in the vicariate from the Vincentians. During his 2½-year tenure as superior general and apostolic provicar he twice saw the arrival of a small group of his followers. He lost the cofounder of the congregation, Father Alois Van Segvelt, after two years. Verbist stressed the establishment of orphanages, thorough instruction of the few existing Catholics, and training of a native clergy. Preaching to the residents of Mongolia did not begin during his lifetime because of the missioners' unfamiliarity with the local language and customs. Verbist lamented his own failure to master Chinese thoroughly. During an inspection tour of his vicariate, he was taken ill, probably with typhus, and died in Lao-hu-kou. His remains were transferred to the enlarged chapel of Our Lady at Scheut (May 1931). Kindness and eagerness to help others were his most noted traits.

Bibliog

  • Theophile verbist characteristics

    • The Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) was founded in 1862 by a Belgian diocesan priest, Fr. Theophile Verbist, for the evangelization of China. He and his companions were entrusted with the Northern part of China (Inner Mongolia). In 1946 the Congregation bought a manor in Arlington, Va., which they called “Missionhurst” to serve as a base for the financial support of the China Mission and other growing missions around the world. Missionhurst would be the central house for the CICM Province in the United States.


    The China mission ended after the Communist take-over of China. All CICM missionaries were expelled. But by then, Fr. Theophile’s religious mission congregation had grown into an army of missionaries in frontiers elsewhere around the world. 


    They trudged through roadless jungles to preach the gospel. They founded schools in deepest Africa. They improved people’s lives while founding Catholic communities on the vast steppes of Mongolia.


    Inspired by our founder’s devotion, Missionhurst-CICM missionaries have now proclaimed the good news of the gospel in some of the most remote places on earth. Today, almost a thousand priests and brothers from the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia continue serving and caring for God’s poorest and most neglected people around the world.


    Faithful to the legacy of the first missionaries martyred in the Boxer rebellion and elsewhere, many have died in the service of their missions; the CICM now includes 40 martyrs since its founding. Missionhurst-CICM missionaries give witness to the universal love of God by living among the people, sharing in their privations, and participating in the day-to-day effort needed to achieve lifelong spiritual and material changes.

     

    Our Story Continues Today

    Theophiel Verbist

    Belgian priest

    Theophile Verbist, CICM (Chinese: 南懷義 12 June 1823 – 23 February 1868) was a Belgian Catholic priest who founded the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a missionary religious congregation of men. He led missionary activities in China.

    Early life

    Verbist was born in Antwerp, Belgium on 12 June 1823. After studies at the Minor Seminary and Major Seminary, Mechelen, he was ordained as a priest on 18 September 1847 by Cardinal Engelbert Sterckx, Archbishop of Mechelen. He was appointed subregent of the Minor Seminary of Mechelen on 1 October 1847.

    Career in Belgium

    In 1853 he became chaplain of the Military Academy in Brussels. He was simultaneously appointed director of the Sisters of Molenbeek, a Congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, which worked since 1840 in various countries as missionaries. He became the National Director in Belgium of the Association of the Holy Childhood, a charitable organization established in France to raise funds for orphans in countries with Catholic missions. Through this engagement he became aware of the plight of orphans in China.

    In 1860 he conceived the plan to gather Belgian secular priests to travel to China and establish an orphanage. This initiative received the approval of Cardinal Sterckx. Cardinal Sterkx insisted that Verbist could only leave if he joined an existing congregation such as the Jesuits, the Recollects, the Paris Foreign Missions Society or the Lazarists who were already active in China or if his mission was incorporated into one of the apostolic vicariates in China. However, Verbist was able to convince the Belgian church leaders and finally obtain the approval of Cardinal Sterckx and the Belgian bishops to establish a new Belgian missionary congregation. The canonical establishment of the congregation by Cardinal Sterckx is dated 28 November 1862.

  • Theophile verbist cause of death