CFE 104 CICM

Missionary Identity

By: Laurice Kaye P. Laguinday, LPT

OBJECTIVES
1. identify and discuss some important aspects of the CICM
story, with a focus on the CICM founder, Fr. Theophile
Verbist;
2. draw relevant insights from the intentions and
experiences of Fr. Theophile Verbist in starting the CICM
congregation; and
3. show appreciation of the character traits of Fr. Verbist by
exerting effort to practice them in their personal lives.
CONTEXT
1. Identify a leader or a founder of an
organization or a group that is serving the good
of society.

2. Name the founder of that group/ organization

and say something about why he/ she started the
group. Say also why the group is successful in
reaching its goals.
GROUP SHARING
INSPIRED WORD
He went to Nazareth, where he had
been brought up, and on the Sabbath
day he went into the synagogue, as
was his custom. He stood up to read,
and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah
was handed to him. Unrolling it, he
found the place where it is written:
 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me
because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor. He
has sent me to proclaim freedom for
the prisoners and recovery of sight for
the blind, to set the oppressed free, to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll,
gave it back to the attendant,
and sat down. The eyes of
everyone in the synagogue
were fastened on him.
THE FOUNDER
 Theophile Verbist was born in
Antwerp (Belgium) on June 12,
1823, in an urban middle-class
family, with seven children.
 Theophile had a twin brother,
Edmond. While his brother chose
to become a lawyer, Theophile
was ordained as a diocesan priest
on September 18, 1847.
 He was initially assigned as supervisor in
the Minor Seminary of Mechlin.
 Chaplain at the military school, and
 Rector of a community of the Sisters of
Notre-Dame de Namur in Brussels in
1853.
 In 1860, he got an additional appointment
as National Director of the Holy Childhood
in Belgium.
 The statutes of the new congregation
were approved on November 28, 1862.
 THE PIONEERS
Five pioneers (Rev.
Fathers Verbist, Bax,
Van Segvelt, Verlinden,
and Vranckx) took
their religious vows in
the hands of Cardinal
Sterckx on October 24,
1864.
 On August 25, 1865 the first batch of missionaries,
headed by Father Verbist himself, left for Chinese
Mongolia with him were the Reverend Fathers
Vranckx, Van Segvelt, and Hamer, and lay helper
Splingard.
 On December 6, 1865, the team arrived in
Xiwanze, their destination
 In September 1866, the Lazarist Fathers, who had
been in charge of Inner-Mongolia, finalized the
turnover of the entire province to the Belgian
missionaries.
 February 23,
1868: While on a
tour of his mission
stations, Father
Verbist fell ill at
the village of
Laohugou and
died.
Missionary Response
 Draw a picture of Theophile Verbist and use the letters
of his family name as acronym for characteristics you
think are descriptive of him as a person and a
missionary. (For example, V= Virtuous;
E=Enterprising; R = etc.). Beside the characteristic, give
a short sentence of explanation for why that
characteristic applies to him. Then choose two
descriptions you have given that you want to emulate
and explain why you have chosen those descriptions.
(Total of 20 points)
 Criteria
Relevance to the topic: 10
Creativity: 4
Clarity: 3
Originality: 3
 Additional Readings
o https://www.kuleuven.be/verbiest/koerier/c
ve30d1
o https://www.missionhurstcicm.org/cicm-
global
o https://www.examiner.org.hk/2022/06/17/
cicm-celebrates-founders-bicentennial-birth-
anniversary/news/international/