Théophile Verbist

Theophile Verbist, CICM ( 12 June 1823 – 23 February 1868) was a Belgian Catholic priest who founded the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a missionary religious congregation of men. He led missionary activities in China.

Early life Verbist was born in Antwerp, Belgium on 12 June 1823. After studies at the Minor Seminary and Major Seminary, Mechelen, he was ordained as a priest on 18 September 1847 by Cardinal Engelbert Sterckx, Archbishop of Mechelen. He was appointed subregent of the Minor Seminary of Mechelen on 1 October 1847.

Career in Belgium In 1853 he became chaplain of the Military Academy in Brussels. He was simultaneously appointed director of the Sisters of Molenbeek, a Congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, which worked since 1840 in various countries as missionaries. He became the National Director in Belgium of the Association of the Holy Childhood, a charitable organization established in France to raise funds for orphans in countries with Catholic missions. Through this engagement he became aware of the plight of orphans in China.

On 25 August 1865 Verbist set out on his journey in the company of four companions: Father Aloïs Van Segvelt, Frans Vrankx, Ferdinand Hamer and lay helper Paul Splingaerd. After landing in Hong Kong, they made their way to Xiwanzi in Inner Mongolia. Initially Xiwanzi was the center of their mission area. Two Chinese priests Petrus Feng and Vicent Fan who had been formed by the Lazarists assisted the newly arrived missionaries. On September 12, 1865, Verbist was appointed Prefect of the Apostolic Pro-vicar of Mongolia. On 10 May 1931 his mortal remains were solemnly repatriated in a Chinese coffin to Anderlecht and placed in a mausoleum established in a side chapel of the CICM church in Scheut. The mausoleum includes a bronze statue of Verbist, dressed in Chinese garments, and kneeling with open arms before the globe, made by the sculptor Aloïs De Beule. When the CICM church in Scheut was razed in 1974, Verbist's Chinese coffin was moved to a small crypt under the new chapel and the bronze statue was placed in the garden.