Collegio Missionario CICM

A Need for a Procure in Rome

Since the beginning of its existence, the Congregation sent some of its young members to study philosophy and theology in Rome and Louvain.

In 1900, the Congregation was directly dependent on the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. That is why the Superior General residing in Brussels decided to send a procurator to represent him in Rome.

In 1904, Albert Misonne (1877-1937) was appointed as Procurator and arrive in Rome the same year.

In January 1909, Misonne mentions in a letter to the Superior General that he found a good site to build a procure that could also serve as a study house. The plot was a part of the Villa Lante, a property of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, who were willing to sell this plot. The plot, about 2000 m², is situated at the end of the Via San Francesco di Sales, behind the big Regina Cœli prison along the Tiber. The place is quiet, isolated, on the hillside of the Janiculum, twenty minutes away from the University of the Propaganda.

A certain Leopold Servais (1876- 1960), a lawyer in Mons in Belgium, contacted by the brother of Misonne, agreed to buy the site and build a house that the Congregation could rent.

A Missionary College in Rome

In October 1910, the rector and the students settled down at the College. In December of the same year, the vicar general of the diocese of Rome and another monsignore inspector gave their approval about the house and allowed them to celebrate Mass in their chapel. The next day, on the feast of Saint Francis Xavier, Misonne blessed the house and said the first mass in the chapel.

On September 21, 1931, a royal decree was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d’Italia, announcing that the Italian State acknowledged the legal status of the Missionary College

The Servais Donation

On June 13, 1932, Leopold Servais donated the Missionary College – site and building - to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The main reason for this act of generosity was probably Servais’ deep faith, his great respect for the work of the missionaries, and his great esteem for the proclamation of the Good News of Our Lord to the non-Christians.

At the entrance of the Missionary College, on the wall of the gate giving access to the inner courtyard, a commemorative plaque is fixed as a sign of gratitude to the family Servais. On the plaque, we read:

VILLINO EMMANUELE SERVAIS
Procura CONGR. DEL CUORE
IMMACULATO DI MARIA SCHEUT

The Missionary College today

From 1974 to 1978, the Procure also served to accommodate guests. After this intermezzo, the procure became a Missionary College again, until now.