The Congregation is an international religious missionary Institute.
It was founded by Theophile Verbist and is dedicated to the Incarnate Word,
under the name and patronage of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
CICM Constitutions, Art. 1
June 25, 2022 - Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Blessed is the Virgin Mary who kept the word of God and pondered it in her heart.
CICM is dedicated to the Incarnate Word under the name and patronage of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our missionary spirituality is characterized and oriented by this dedication and this patronage. To be dedicated to a cause or a person means giving all one’s strength to it. The Congregation is dedicated to the Incarnate Word, and so, in our mission, we follow the path indicated by the Son of God in his incarnation. The Congregation bears the name of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as its patron. To bear the name of someone means to belong to that person’s family and to be able to count on that person’s help and encouragement.
The question can be raised whether we are an Institute of the Incarnate Word or a Marian Institute. The Marian accent, included as it is in the name of the Congregation, refers to both an historical context and a theological fact. Our Congregation was founded at a time when Marian devotion was very popular due especially to the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. It was, therefore, not by chance that our Founder placed our Congregation under her patronage. The message of the Founder is simple. In his letters he continually stressed the need to invoke Mary's help and support:
“Let us meet often in the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, our Mother, our Patron” (22.4.1866) - “Pray with us, my dear friends. Through the Immaculate Heart of our dear Mother let us try to obtain peace for the Church and expansion of her Kingdom among the nations” (24.1.1868).
