LESSON 1: THE CICM AS INTERNATIONAL AND MULTICULTURAL

ORGANIZATION: And God’s Spirit Blows Where It Wills

The CICM as an international organization

As a congregation founded in Belgium in 1862, the CICM missionaries were often referred to as
‘the Belgian fathers’; they used to be known also in the Philippines under that name. Indeed, until World
War II, the members of the congregation were mainly

Belgian or Dutch. During the general chapter of 1947, however, the opinion about membership began to
change, even before the second Vatican council introduced profound changes in Church and mission, and
Western countries saw a sharp decline in the number of new vocations. In 1966, after the council had
ended, all religious institutes were invited by pope Paul VI to revise their constitutions and align them
with the new ideas developed during Vatican-II. CICM held a chapter in 1967 for this purpose. The
General Chapter of 1981 repeated the intention to involve each and every confrere in the drafting of the
new Constitutions, that were meant to “be based on the lived realities and ideals of the confreres”. The
tentative constitutions were finally
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 approved during the general chapter of 1987. Everything was put in the light of ‘alignment to
contemporary society and culture’ and of ‘returning to the source’. During the general chapter of 1974,
five CICM members from outside Europe joined the talks for the first time in the history of the
congregation. In opening membership to non- Europeans, the congregation intended to heed a call of
God: the gospel is inviting the followers of Christ to break through barriers, to promote universal
brotherhood and unite all humans in His kingdom, regardless of their background. Faith in the living
Christ is the only requirement. At the same time, the integration of missionaries in their local
communities and the service of the congregation to the local churches, could also benefit from a
spirit of openness. For the same reason also, teams and communities of missionaries are now
preferentially mixed, being composed of missionaries from different countries and continents. The
distinction between ‘sending’ and ‘receiving’ countries, depending on whether they were sending
missionaries to other countries and continents or rather accommodating foreign missionaries in their own
midst, is no longer workable, as mission is carried out ‘from everywhere to everywhere’. Of course,
there are differences of interpretation on how missionary work is to be carried out in – for instance
– traditionally Christian countries, as in Europe. To some, missionaries could help in the new
evangelization of the local population, while others opine that the concept of ‘mission ad gentes’ requires
that missionaries in Europe focus in the first place on non- Christian minorities, usually immigrant
communities. However, in spite of these and other challenges that are related to the formation of
genuinely international and inter-cultural missionary teams, God’s Spirit keeps blowing a wind of
enhanced differentiation. In this way, the CICM motto received a new meaning and dimension: in
spite of cultural differences among missionaries and between the missionaries
and their host population, there is a unity of heart
and of soul among congregation members, that is to be disseminated across the
Church, in all continents. The first countries where local
candidates were recruited were Congo, the United States of America, and the Philippines. In the
Philippines, the first batch of eight novices started their formation in 1953 in Baguio City. After some
time, during which it was unclear whether they would eventually be assigned in the Philippines or in a
foreign mission, it was decided that all CICM missionaries, regardless of their nationality, are to be
assigned for some period in a foreign mission), in accordance with the CICM missionary charism (ad
extra). Therefore, two Filipino CICM members left for Brazil in 1965; they were followed by
dozens of confreres in successive decades. At the same time, there were calls for more
‘Filipinization’ at home, for a deeper integration of Filipino values in the congregation, in its identity
and practices. Driven by this and other

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 concerns, a group of CICM missionaries formed the ‘Missionaries of Jesus’ (MJ) in 2002. Today, Filipino
CICM missionaries are working in nearly twenty different countries, spread all over the world. The
‘receiving’ church has become a ‘sending’ church. The dream goes on!

Lesson 2: MISSION STORIES OF CICM IN THE WORLD: Go and Make Disciples of

All Nations

THE CICM MISSION ACROSS CONTINENTS

A. IN ASIA

1. The CICM MISSION in the "Chinese Province"

Singapore (where CICM already had a ‘sub-procure’ since 1931), Hong Kong (where CICM
would start being active in 1954), and Taiwan (formerly called ‘Formosa’, the island to which the
nationalist Chinese Kuomintang government in exile fled, and where CICM started its mission in 1955).
These non-contiguous territories formed together the so-called ‘Chinese province’ (Provincia Sinica).

2. Indonesia

The Indonesian mission was prompted by the concern to raise more missionary vocations in the
Netherlands (Many Dutch Catholics considered the foundation and development of the Catholic Church
in Indonesia as their moral and religious duty).

Through the years, in spite of the World War II-prison camps and the guerilla wars in the
following decade, the congregation has founded parishes, schools, dormitories and polyclinics; an
organization offering household-related training to Catholic housewives, and an agricultural school also
belong to the CICM initiatives.

3. Japan

The General Chapter of 1947 had approved the mission to Japan, and in the next year, the first
contracts with local church authorities were made, first in Osaka, later also in other places like
Okayama.

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 Since the congregation had plenty of candidate-missionaries after the war, and since the
developments in China provided additional manpower options to other mission countries, the
development was particularly strong in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Catholic schools were well regarded and added to the reputation of the Catholic Church. In the
following decades, social, economic, and cultural developments increasingly brought the local clergy to
the forefront of pastoral care.

4. Mongolia
The mission in Mongolia started on July 10, 1992, when three CICM confreres - Robert
Goessens, Wenceslao Padilla, and Gilbert Sales (SLU President since 2015) - arrived in that North Asian
country, after pope John Paul II, through the Propaganda Fide, had sent them to establish the Catholic
Church community there.
The CICM missionaries of 1992 also had to adjust to the harsh climate, the scarce and different
food; they had to learn something of the different language of the locals, as they were dealing with non-
Christian religious conservatism as well as indifference among the locals. As Christian missionaries, they
also had to deal with the sometimes “aggressive” missionary methods of their non-Catholic counterparts.
The CICM had acquired ecclesiastic supervision over ‘Urga’ (Outer-Mongolia), when it fell into the
hands of Soviet Russian troops in 1921.

5. Philippines

In 1907, the CICM Missionaries arrived in the Philippines, mandated by the Holy See to
evangelize the northern part of the country. Thus, it was that in 1911, Rev Fr Séraphin Devesse, CICM,
founded a one-room elementary school in Baguio for ten local boys. From these humble origins, Saint
Louis School began.

B. AFRICA

Congo, Cameroon, Senegal and Zambia

In a next step, the presence of CICM in Africa has been explored, to begin with Congo (1888),
later followed by Cameroon, Senegal and Zambia. In general, missionary work in Africa occurs against
the background of poor public order and services and of economic difficulties, but also of a vibrant
variety of cultures and languages; some countries, especially Senegal, have a Muslim majority, offering
opportunities for inter- religious dialogue, even as conversions to Christianity are rare.

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 The CICM-mission in Congo already started in 1888. King Leopold II of Belgium wanted to turn
his country into a prosperous and powerful state that could compete with other European nations during
the high days of colonialism. Therefore, he acquired a huge territory, many times bigger than his own
country, in the heart of the African continent.

After the king had taken the initiative to put up an ‘African Seminary’ in Louvain for future
priests in the African continent, and this seminary was eventually turned over to CICM, the time was ripe
for the first team to move on, with the blessing of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the
Faith.

The CICM missionaries were able to put up several mission stations; they particularly took care
of the many child slaves who were sold by traders. With support of the government, they created ‘school
colonies’ that provided education and training for those children.

Today, missions in Congo include parishes and youth ministry. The huge country is affected by
significant cultural and linguistic differences (they have four national languages, including Lingala,
Kikongo). This presents a big challenge for missionaries.

C. AMERICAS / CARIBBEAN

1. CICM Mission in America

Regarding the mission in the United States, it is important to know that before the efforts
described in the Missionhurst website (situated mainly in 1946 and in the following years), earlier
activities in the United States took place beginning 1919. The reasons for this were mainly financial:
(1)CICM had started a few years earlier (1907) the mission in the Philippines, an American colony at that
time; from the beginning, this mission suffered from a lack of revenues, so CICM had to find financial
resources.

In 1944, Father Ernest Dieltiens first contacted the archdiocese of Philadelphia, where CICM was
a familiar name to the archbishop, since he had served as archbishop of Nueva Segovia (Vigan) in the
Philippines during the period 1903-1908, when the CICM pioneers were arriving there. It was agreed that
CICM missionaries would help in the apostolate among African-Americans in various parishes; in 1946,
the same was arranged with the bishop of Columbus (Ohio). In the same year, CICM became owner of
the former ‘Lyonhurst’ property in Arlington, Virginia, renamed ‘Missionhurst’; they also got a parish
in Culpepper, Virginia, in the diocese of Richmond.

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 In 1947, the expansion moved to the South: they got parishes to take care of in Dallas, and San
Antonio (Texas), with respectively high numbers of black and Mexican- Americans among their
populations. Other projects were situated in Oklahoma and Louisiana (apostolate among French-speaking
Catholics).

In 1966, CICM also got a parish in Los Angeles, California; they would remain in that state until
the early 80’s. Still in the sixties, CICM was charged with the operation of a high school in the
archdiocese of Philadelphia.

2. CICM Mission in the Caribbean

CICM came to Haiti first in 1949, to operate a cane sugar plant that would go bankrupt soon.
Developments in China caused a significant flow-over of missionaries to other territories. That’s how
Haiti received 17 missionaries in1953, and another 5 in the following year. During the 1960’s CICM
brothers came to help in construction and repair works.

The eastern part of the island Hispaniola is called the ‘Dominican Republic’. After occupations
by France, Haiti, and Spain, it became independent in 1863, with Santo Domingo as capital city. The
CICM started a mission in the Dominican republic in order to provide a territory for US-born young
CICM priests to acquire missionary experience ad extra not too far from home. The mission was,
therefore, placed under the supervision of the CICM United States province.

When the arrival of new missionaries from Europe and the U.S. began to decrease, especially in
the 1980’s, young CICM priests from the Philippines, and later also from Congo and Haiti provided
reinforcement, to meet the demands of multifaceted pastoral work. CICM missionaries are at work both
in the slums of Santo Domingo and in the campos of the South-West, mainly inhabited by Haitian
plantation workers. The pastoral methods used in Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) are widely
promoted.

In 1954, the CICM also started a mission in Guatemala, a Central American country situated
between Mexico (to the North, where CICM is also present) and El Salvador and Honduras (to the South).
The CICM in Mexico faces a country where 90% of the population is Catholic but very few are actually
practicing. Suffering from poverty, poor education, and drug-related gang violence, many workers are
looking for employment in the United States or border region, leaving women alone with the kids.

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 In Guatemala, malnutrition remains a serious problem until today, besides drug and human
trafficking. A significant part of the population consists of Maya Indians, both in the mountainous North
and in the coastal South, where large banana plantations are located. CICM missionaries were initially
assigned in the latter but would later also move to the North.

Aside from doing classical parish work and administering sacraments, the CICM gets involved in
the set-up of a pastoral-catechetical center, which soon became famous because of its catechetical
publications and pastoral methodology. At the same time, the missionaries were working hard to
implement the many recommendations from the second Vatican council, like in liturgy, where the
language of the people had to be introduced.

Another Latin American bishops’ conference (that of Puebla in, held in 1979) will set the tone for
further pastoral developments. Some CICM missionaries move into the Amazon territory, where
impoverished adventurous people try to start a new life, as they are looking for land, wood, and gold,
which brings them into conflict with local Indian tribes. 1979 is also the year when Brazil became a
separate province of CICM, and an own formation program was started.

D. EUROPE

The CICM statutes, drafted by a team led by Father Theophile Verbist, were approved by
Cardinal Engelbert Sterckx, archbishop of Mechlin-Brussels (Belgium). The site called ‘Scheut’ or
‘Scheutveld’, where the chapel of Our-Lady-of-Grace and the CICM mother house (the later Seminarium
pro Sinis) were located, was situated in the vicinity of Belgium’s capital city.

Both in China and the Philippines, the CICM were known as the ‘Belgian Fathers’. This is in
spite of the fact that Father Verbist had already at an early stage opened the group for non-Belgian -
especially Dutch – members, so as to enlarge his field of recruitment of candidates for the new mission.

Today, CICM is active in limited projects, as in youth apostolate and in a number of parishes, as
the once ‘sending’ Belgian Church has become a ‘receiving’ Church, due to a lack of vocations for the
priesthood and the religious life. Secularized living and thinking – resulting from scientific and
technological progress, material wealth, social welfare policies, and a critical-liberal press.

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 The attitude of a lot of people towards the Catholic Church has also been adversely affected by
scandals and abuses involving priests or religious, while some nurture resentment about the powerful
social and political role the Church has played in the past.

In spite of the challenges this brings, CICM is still actively present in the Belgian environment, as
a number of people are still feeling some form of religious need. Even among young people, a good
number admit in private that they are praying, while some new religious movements have proved to
attract members who hunger for allowing the transcendent into their lives.

The presence of several retirement houses for missionaries who are enjoying a deserved rest in
their homeland from their former work ad extra in the Lord’s vineyard, also needs to be mentioned when
referring to CICM in Belgium and the Netherlands.

* CICM Missionary Message

Mission in the context of the contemporary world, more than ever, is obviously a complex
and difficult task. But in spite of it all, the work of God's grace can always find a way. Primarily, for
the CICM missionaries, one way is to heed their pledge to engage in inter-religious dialogue.

The CICM Constitutions declare: “We sincerely love and respect the people to whom we are
sent. We adopt a listening attitude and try to gain knowledge and understanding of their socio-economic,
political, cultural and religious realities. Aware that the Spirit has been at work everywhere, we discern
the evangelical values present in these realities.”

Lesson 3: THE CICM AS PIONEERING AND DARING: Through the Storm

with the Incarnate Word

(a) The CICM missionary as martyr: the example of Ferdinand Hamer and others
Bishop Ferdinand Hamer, CICM

He is a Dutchman who belonged to the pioneering team of CICM in Chinese Mongolia. He was
accepted as a member of the congregation in July 1865, shortly before the first journey to China. CICM
founder Theophile Verbist had a very good impression about him, who was only twenty-five when they
left for China, while Verbist

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 himself was forty-two; “F. Hamer, who is by far the youngest member at the age of twenty-five is quick
in learning Chinese and he also adapts easily to the life in China. His wish is to become a Chinese
amongst the Chinese as soon as possible.” Father Verbist further mentions that “F. Hamer is invaluable to
the mission” and that he is a model of missionary perfection: “Our Lord granted us a perfect missionary.
The Christians love him as they love a father; he lives entirely for them.” When he came back in 1891
from a vacation in Europe, he had a lot of gifts with him. However, even as he “thought of building
churches and chapels, he prefers to spend this money on emergency aid”, after learning about robberies
and famine that hit his mission.

The most striking anecdote about F. Hamer is about the end of his life, when he already was
vicar-apostolic of the Ortos region (South-Western Mongolia). However, at the end of the decade, a so-
called ‘palace revolution’ in Pei-ching re-kindled hatred against the Christians. It was the start of the so-
called ‘Boxer Revolution’. They were not afraid to fabricate and spread false rumors about the Christians
and their foreign missionaries. In Eastern Mongolia, Father Joseph Segers was captured and buried alive.
The mission of Sung-chu-tsui-tzu was saved thanks to a Russian military battalion; Xiwanze (Si-wan-tse)
in Central Mongolia. Being advised by the Mongolian prince of Djüngar to move West to a fortified
residence for his security, he told his priests: “I cannot expose you to such a great danger and a certain
death. If there is a way to save you all, then I have to do this. I cannot bring the mission of whom I am the
head, in danger of losing all its priests. The only solution is a hasty retreat. I therefore order you to leave
for San-cheng-kung tonight. As I am an old man, I shall stay with the Christians. So, if God wants my
life, I shall offer it to him gladly in order to save my Christians and my good missionaries." After the
missionaries, forced to heed the words of the bishop due to their vow of obedience, they left the bishop
with a thousand Christians and catechumens taking refuge in the church. After having fended off the first
attacks, they were convinced by military mandarins that the danger was gone, just to find out that this
advice was a hoax. In the attack that followed all children of the Holy Childhood were killed, while
women were sold as slaves. The bishop was found kneeling in his chapel, brought away and subject to
public humiliation and horrific torture. He was eventually set alight, while his corpse was afterwards
beheaded and desecrated. His six missionaries had to cross the Ortos and Gobi deserts to Outer-Mongolia
in difficult and dangerous conditions, and then, together with nine confreres, travel all the way through
Siberia to Europe; fortunately, they got a warm welcome upon arriving in Scheut.

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 Even in the Philippines, some CICM missionaries have paid their service to the Lord with their
lives. At the end of World War II, five missionaries were killed in separate incidents, that took place in
Baguio City, in Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela provinces. Among them was former SLU “founder” Fr.
Seraphin Devesse,CICM . Fr Conrado Aquino, CICM was hit by a bullet in Tinglayan, Kalinga while on
his way to Baguio City. Fr. Elias Bareng, CICM died while being caught in the crossfire of warring tribes
in Tanudan, Kalinga, in 1979. Fr. Leonard Vande Winkel, CICM disappeared in 1988, in Lubuagan,
Kalinga. He had received death threats after openly criticizing an armed group guided by an ideology he
believed to be against the teachings of the Gospel.

Among the Filipino CICM missionaries assigned in foreign missions, Fr. Conrado dela Cruz,
CICM went missing in Guatemala in 1980, while other CICM confreres were either killed, disappeared,
or were forced to leave the country. Fr. Pacificador Laranang,CICM drowned under rather suspicious
circumstances along Guatemala’s Pacific coast in 1984. Martyrdom is not just something of the remote
past but can occur in recent times as well.

(b)The CICM missionary as church leader: Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, Bishop William
Brasseur, and others
1. Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, CICM

Not all CICM ‘heroes’ were martyrs. One example is Bishop Wenceslao Padilla,CICM. The
mission in Mongolia started on July 10, 1992, when three CICM confreres, the Reverend Fathers Robert
Goessens, Wenceslao Padilla, and Gilbert Sales (SLU President since 2015) - arrived in that North Asian
country, after pope John Paul II, through the Propaganda Fide, had sent them to establish the Catholic
Church community there. Evangelization in Mongolia almost had to start from zero. The CICM
missionaries of 1992 had to adjust to the harsh climate, the scarce and different food; they had to learn
something of the different language of the locals, as they were dealing with non-Christian religious
conservatism as well as indifference among the locals. As Christian missionaries, they also had to deal
with the sometimes “aggressive” missionary methods of their non-Catholic counterparts. Even as
progress was very slow in the beginning of the 1992 missionary drive, Bishop ‘Wens’ and his team
managed to baptize several hundreds of Mongolians “without proselytizing”, “come and see” being their
main slogan.

Father ‘Wens’ knew that – today more than ever – missionary work is a complex and difficult
task, that requires huge amounts of patience, tactful communication, and

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 well-considered, selective use of local cultural elements to make the Christian message better understood
and appreciated by the population. He particularly heeded the CICM pledge to engage in Inter-religious
dialogue. The CICM Constitutions declare: “We sincerely love and respect the people to whom we are
sent. We adopt a listening attitude and try to gain knowledge and understanding of their socio-economic,
political, cultural and religious realities. Aware that the Spirit has been at work everywhere, we discern
the evangelical values present in these realities.”

Other examples of CICM leadership include Bishops Constant Jurgens (Tuguegarao), Albert Van
Overbeke (Bayombong), Carlito Cenzon (Baguio), Prudencio Andaya (Tabuk); special attention befits the
person of Bishop William (Willy) Brasseur.

2. Bishop William Brasseur, CICM

He arrived in the Philippines in 1931 and became rector of the Baguio Cathedral in 1945. He
became CICM-provincial superior in 1946. In 1948, he was promoted to the function of bishop, as vicar
apostolic of the Mountain Provinces. The timing suggests that he had a tremendous task to rebuild
churches, chapels, convents, schools, dispensaries, dormitories, etc., that had been badly damaged or
destroyed during World-War II. He also used new communication media in disseminating the good
message of Christ creating The Mountain Province Broadcasting Company in 1965-66. He is also
remembered for being the founder of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (S.I.H.M.,
commonly known in the Cordillera as the ‘Tuding sisters’) in 1952. Among the tasks of the sisters are
aspects of the typical missionary’s apostolate: “catechetical work, education in the schools, social
education, health improvement”. The bishop is presented as the leader who creates an organization with
its leaders, to help him in leading his flock… Team work is a value that is not only cherished by CICM
members, but also shared by them with other groups in the Church. Bishop Brasseur retired in 1981, and
was succeeded by Rev. Emiliano Madangeng.

(c)The CICM missionary as anthropologist: the example of Morice (‘Maurice’) Vanoverbergh

and others
Missionaries ‘ad extra’ go out from their home country and culture to proclaim the good news of
Christ to foreign peoples. Doing so effectively requires a serious effort of immersion, so as to perfectly
assess the culture of communication in a certain place including the local languages. Therefore, CICM
missionaries already have shown interest in local dialects and cultures at an early stage.

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 1. Fr. Alphons Bermyn, CICM

He became the Provincial Superior of South-West Mongolia in 1890 and Vicar Apostolic of
Ortos in 1901, Father Verhelst states: “For quite a long time, A. Bermyn has been compiling a
Mongolian-French, French-Mongolian dictionary of the spoken language. It is aimed at the young
members of the Congregation who will need to speak the language... The dictionary contains 11,000
words with all their meanings, and also examples.”

2. Fr. Morice Vanoverbergh, CICM

He took his first vows in 1904, and arrived in the Philippines on October 24, 1909. He was first
assigned in the mission of Bauko, Mountain Province, with a boys’ dormitory and a small school. Another
significant mission station was in Apayao province. This was a particularly challenging assignment for
him, as his superior obviously wasn’t very much aware of the situation on the field. The Apayao territory
of those times also comprised parts of Cagayan province, and had a total surface area of 2,000 square
miles. For such surfaces, they were exactly two (2) CICM missionaries. He usually was accompanied by
a catechist while travelling, also for safety reasons: “Those trips were very perilous since we had to
continually cross rivers. In order to reach Dagadan, we had to cross the river fifty-nine times in one
morning. The river was, in fact, the road, and every time the river touched a mountain, we had to try to
reach the other bank... It was, therefore, always necessary to have a companion. We could have drowned,
and nobody would have known it.” It was during this time that Fr. Vanoverbergh was recommended to do
research on the Negritoes (Called ‘Agta’ or ‘Eta’) of Northern and Eastern Luzon. His findings on the
tribal religious beliefs and practices brought him praise from nobody less than pope Pius XI. Also, around
that time, in 1928 or 1929, the wooden church of Kabugao was built, as well as dormitories to
accommodate students for the nearby public school. During World War II, he was assigned in Sabangan,
Mountain Province. That’s where he built a church again – for an amount of five to six thousand pesos.
When the Japanese imperial troops entered the village, Fr. Morice had told them not to flee, since this
would likely have led to all houses being burned to the ground. Instead, he went to greet the Japanese
commander and showed him his passport that displayed stamps of four visits to Japan. The officer was
satisfied and no violence was committed. Most damage occurred during the American bombardments at
the end of the war. They got weekly bombings for nearly three months. The people had to flee and Fr.
Morice, who was working on an Iloko grammar, lost a part of his manuscript. After the war, he was
again assigned to Bauko, where a new church and convent were put

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 up. Towards the end of his life, he retired in Home Sweet Home, Baguio City. Although nearly blind, he
was still able to finish his Isneg dictionary in 1972, and an English- Kankana-ey thesaurus in 1981, the
year before his death.

(d) The CICM missionary as healer: the example of Fr. Joseph Rutten,CICM and others.
We may conclude from the story of Fr. Morice Vanoverbergh,CICM, that not all CICM heroes
were ‘martyrs’ in the strict sense, but that all have excelled in dedication to their work as missionaries,
and in love for God and for His people. This is also what has been the basic motivation for attempts to
find a solution for exanthematic typhus, an illness caused by a bacterium (Rickettsia Prowozeki) passed
on to humans by lice or ticks. The illness is sometimes confounded with typhoid fever. What was at stake
was obvious: at least 72 CICM members had probably died from typhus in China between 1910 and 1930
alone. In 1868, the CICM founder, Father Theophile Verbist, had already been a possible victim of the
same disease after barely twenty-seven months in his Mongolian mission. His case was not an exception,
since several foreign missionaries had died of any such disease in the area, including Father Alois Van
Segvelt, who died on April 5, 1867.

1. Rev. Fr. Joseph Rutten, CICM

“Exanthematic typhus” is a term that doesn’t appear in the letters of missionaries in 1868;
however, in 1930, CICM superior general Joseph Rutten mobilized an international team of experts to
find a remedy against the disease. In February 1931, he arrived in the Vicariate of Xiwanzi (or ‘Hsi-wan-
tzu’), accompanied by a Hungarian doctor, Stefan Gajdos, to vaccinate the missionaries against
exanthematic typhus. After visiting pope Pius XI in Rome, the superior general had gone to Poland to
contact the vaccine developer, Dr. Rudolph Weigl. Fathers Verhelst and Pycke describe the continuation
as follows:

"In 1931, J. Rutten, together with his ex-student from Nan-hao-ch’ien, Dr. Joseph Chang, started
a laboratory for the preparation of the vaccine in the Catholic University of Fu-jen. This vaccine means
the end of the deadly outcome of typhus, but not of the illness itself, which will still plague the
missionaries.

The CICM had, still under the leadership of Joseph Rutten, put up their own hospital in Kuei-hua-
ch’eng (‘City of the Return of Civilization’, also known as ‘the Blue City’). In 1923-24, a General
Catholic Hospital was built under the supervision of Father

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 Leo Vendelmans, who was among others also the architect of the Baguio
Cathedral in the Philippines."

When the CICM received compensation money for the sufferings

endured during the so-called ‘Boxer-rebellion’ – during which several confreres
died as martyrs- China and Belgium agreed to use the money exclusively for
infrastructural, educational and charitable projects in China, including for the
hospital.

2. Rev. Fr. Oktaaf Vandewalle, CICM

When the CICM missionary pioneers came to the Philippines in 1907,

most of the country had already been Christianized. In spite of this, the
‘missionary instinct’ of combining preaching with caring did play a role as
missionary practice, especially in remote areas. One of the pioneers, Fr.
Vandewalle, has integrated medical aid for the people among his apostolic
methods. He made sure that there was in every town or barrio a local leader who
would inform him if any urgent matter had to be addressed, like somebody who
got seriously sick. He is also said to have cured the sister of an Aglipayan leader
in Solano while he was staying at Bayombong.

As we are returning to the CICM and to her founder, Fr. Theophile

Verbist, the words from the founder in a letter to his confreres in Scheut – in
which he was referring to political developments both in his native country and in
that of his mission - acquires an ominous sound in the light of the current global
Covid-19 health crisis:

“Farewell, my dear friend, take well care of yourselves and give us a lot
of news. Europe is really sick, but China hasn’t healed. What will happen to the
world? Let’s hurry to accumulate some merits, since the end of life could be
near”. [T. Verbist, Letter 394 – To J. Bax & T. Rutjes]

Sickness and health have always been a part of the missionaries’ lives, as
they have tried at all times to prevent illness, to mitigate, or to eliminate it.
Missionaries aren’t afraid to face illness and put up efforts to overcome it, since
they count on the unfailing help of God’s healing Providence:

“I don’t easily give up and get away from hardships. The more trials the
better!” [W. Padilla, bishop of Ulaan-Baatar 2002-2018]

(A longer version of this "Church Teaching" section is attached in your flash

drive for your reference. The title of the file is CICM Missionaries as Pioneering
and Daring)

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means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited.