The Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae (Latin), or the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; (French: La Congrégation du Coeur Immaculé de Marie; Flemish: Congregatie van het Onbevlekte Hart van Maria) also known as the Scheut fathers or Scheutists is a Belgian Roman Catholic missionary congregation established in 1862 by the priest Teofiel Verbiest. Its origins lie in Scheut, Anderlecht, a suburb of Brussels, so the C.I.C.M. missionaries were also known as Scheutists or Scheut fathers. The congregation did missionary work in China, Mongolia, the Philippines, and in Congo Free State/Belgian Congo, modern day Democratic Republic of the Congo. Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The term Flemish language can designate: the official language of Flanders, which is Dutch with only very small variations; any of the regional dialects of Dutch spoken in Belgium; these are more different from Dutch than the official language of Flanders; one of these dialects, the West Flemish. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Anderlecht within the Brussels-Capital Region Anderlecht is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. ... The Congo Free State was a kingdom privately and controversially owned by King Leopold II of Belgium that included the entire area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... On November 15, 1908, King Leopold II of Belgium formally relinquished personal control of the Congo Free State and the renamed Belgian Congo came under the administration of the Belgian parliament, a system which lasted until independence was granted in 1960. ...

Fr. Theophiel Verbist was a diocesan priest in the archdiocese of Malines-Brussels in Belgium in the mid 18th century. He served as chaplain in the military academy in Brussels and at the same time as a national director of the Pontifical Association of the Holy Childhood. A compassionate man of God, he led a group of other Belgian diocesan priests who became deeply concerned with the abandoned children in China and with millions of Chinese who lived at that time in ignorance and poverty.

In 1862 he founded the Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae (CICM). Also known as the Scheut Mission, the congregation was born not knowing exactly what lay ahead. Their only assurance was their missionary zeal and God’s providence. In the winter of 1865, Fr. Verbist with four zealous companions arrived in inner Mongolia, that immense territory north of the Great Wall, which was entrusted to the fledgling congregation by Rome, and where they immediately began organizing small Christian communities. The founding fathers never imagined that many would follow their footsteps notwithstanding the cost of traveling by sea and in the hinterlands of China Three years later on Feb. 23, 1868, Fr. Verbist died of typhoid fever at the age of 45 in Lao-Hu-Kou. His foundation, however, grew into the worldwide presence it is today. Originally a Belgian Foundation, CICM has grown into an international religious missionary congregation of men from different races, colors and nationalities who are dedicated to universal brotherhood.

Today the more than 1,000 priests and brothers of CICM are present in Asia: in Taiwan, Mongolia, Hongkong, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and Japan; in the vast continent of Africa: in Congo, Cameroon, Zambia, Senegal, and Angola; in the Americas: Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Brazil, Mexico and the United States; and in Europe: Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, France and Germany.

Bibliography

• Raskin, Albert (1977) 'The archives of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (C.I.C.M.)', History in Africa, 4, 299–304.
• Berg, Leo van den (1994) 'The China world of the "Scheutfathers"', Bulletin de l 'Institut Historique de Belge de Rome, 64, 223–263.