Father Théophile Verbist was born in Antwerp, Belgium on June 12, 1823. While his twin brother Edmond wanted to be a lawyer, he, on the other hand, dreamed of becoming a priest. After his studies, he headed straight into a priestly vocation and was ordained on September 18, 1847. He was a prefect in the minor seminary in Malines, Brussels.
In 1853, Fr. Verbist was appointed chaplain of the Belgian Military Academy and Director of the Sisters of Charity in Namen. According to some accounts, he was enlightened to the missionary calling while praying at the chapel of the sisters. |
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In 1860, he became the national director of the Pontifical Association of the Holy Childhood which took care of abandoned children in the Far East and other parts of the world. Through his work, he learned that there was a great need for orphanages in China due to the large number of abandoned children. Inspired by the work of the Holy Childhood, Father Verbist felt that he, too, should do something more for the poor and needy in China. Father Verbist's desire to dedicate himself to a missionary life seemed on the point of fulfillment when the Treaty of Peking in 1861 opened imperial China to the west and to the arrival of missionaries.
Fr. Verbist, together with his friend - Fr. Alois Van Segvelt, laid out a plan for a congregation of Belgian priests devoted to forming a mission in China focusing on abandoned children and on the millions of Chinese who lived at that time in ignorance and poverty. The statutes for the congregation were then set up and after repeated revisions and adaptations, was finally approved by Cardinal Engelbert Sterckx,
Archbishop of Malines, on November 28, 1862. The foundation was named Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae (CICM, which translates to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) with Fr. Verbist as superior.
On seeking ecclesiastical permission for missionary work to China, they were commissioned by Cardinal Barbaro, Prefect of the Propaganda Fide,
to begin their work by founding a seminary in Belgium to supply priests for foreign missions. This led to the foundation of the Scheutveld College on April 28, 1863. Their first formation house was located in a chapel in Scheut, a municipality of Anderlecht in Brussels hence the name 'Scheut' or 'Scheut Missions.'
After the ecclesiastic foundation of the congregation and the establishment of the Scheut formation house, lengthy discussions took place between Fr. Verbist and the higher ecclesiastic authorities in Malines and in Rome in connection with the establishment of a mission in China. In 1865, Rome finally entrusted the new Belgian Congregation with task of ministering Mongolia, an immense territory north of China. With permission from Rome, the first missionary team left Brussels on August 25, 1865. The group included Fr. Verbist himself, two Belgians: Fr. Aloïs Van Segvelt (Rumst 1826, †China 1867) and Fr. French Vranckx (Antwerp 1830, †Kumtich 1911) and one Dutchman, Fr. Ferdinand Hammer (Nijmegen 1840, †China 1900). The trip took them to Paris, Rome, Marseille, Alexandria, Hongkong, Shanghai and finally they arrived in Siwantze, Mongolia on December 5, 1865.
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Fr. Verbist joined the first group to experience life as a missionary and to oversee the mission itself. He and his mates were ordinary priests with background on pastoral work but had yet to learn about missionary life. The founding fathers never imagined that many would follow in their footsteps notwithstanding the cost of traveling by sea and the perils that lay before them.
At that time, China was overrun with an infectious illness - typhoid fever. This disease was deadly for most foreigners since they had no natural immunity towards it. The first to die in China of the that illness was Fr. Aloïs Van Segvelt, co-founder of the congregation, on April 5, 1867. Shoftly before his death, he wrote to friends saying: "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." The next year, on February 23, 1868, barely 27 months after he started in their mission to Mongolia, Fr. Verbist also died of typhoid fever at the age of 45 in the village of Lao-Hu-Kou. |
Since then, CICM has grown from a Belgian congregation into an international religious missionary congregation of men from different races, colors and nationalities who are dedicated to universal brotherhood. From a small Belgian chapel, a great endeavor was set in motion, inspired by the work of Fr. Théophile Verbist.
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