Foundation of the Institute

How did the Institute come into being?

The first days of the year 1877 found Mary of the Passion in Rome. After twelve years of fruitful missionary work in India as a member of the Society of Mary Reparatrice, unforeseen circumstances obliged her to change her first orientation. Loyally, she came to Rome - as did Francis before her with his first companions seeking light from the successor of Peter, Pius IX. To take this step, she had to tear herself away from the community in Ootacamund, in the vicariate of Coimbatore. While sixteen sisters remained in India, three of them accompanied her to Rome. They found lodgings in via Santa Chiara, a narrow street near the Pantheon. Torn between anxiety and hope, they prayed, while waiting for the situation to be clarified.

In Rome on the 6^th January 1877, the Feast of the Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, Pius IX authorised the Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore to establish in his diocese the Institute of the Missionaries of Mary, specially dedicated to the missions. The sisters in Ootacamund like those in Rome welcomed this news with joy.

The Institute came into being in India.

“Let us rejoice that our Institute came into being on this feast of the Epiphany. Let us bless St. Francis who at the same time, through his successor, gave us the promise that we would always find shelter under his mantle, and let us also recall the counsel given us at this time: ‘To find a place under this mantle, to be a ray of the Immaculate Star which calls souls to Jesus, you must be very pure and very little” (Meditation of Mary of the Passion)

Moreover Cardinal Franchi invited Mary of the Passion to establish a novitiate in France. A few days later, during an audience, the Pope encouraged her and placed his hands upon her head as if to confirm by this gesture the mission he had just confided to her in the name of God.

At the beginning, she could not foresee its full scope. From day to day and year to year she followed the indications manifested by Providence through events; she was always attentive to the signs of the times, trusting in God in spite of the contradictions and crucifying trials which marked the life of the Institute in its first years.

As early as the month of March 1877, she drew up the Plan of the Institute of the religious Mission­aries of Mary, the first rough draft of the Constitutions. Already article 17 referred to the future: “...When the time comes, it (the Insti­tute) will submit its rules to the Sovereign Pontiff, for it makes a special profession of re­spect and obedience to the Holy See, pledging itself to make foundations wherever it (the Holy See) may desire, for the aim of the Institute makes it universal”. This universality commits the sisters to a total disponibility for the ser­vice of evangelisation: they must go every­where, in spite of risks, and wherever they are be, bear witness to the love of God for all men, while accomplishing all forms of service, re­sponding to the needs of those around them.