MISSIONARIES OF THE COMPANY OF MARY. - From the very beginnings of his priesthood St. Louis M. Grignion de Montfort (v.) had thought of establishing a company of missionaries to preach to the abandoned populations of the countryside, and for many years he had kept in contact with the various diocesan companies then existing, but none had been willing to bind itself permanently to him.
Thus in 1705 he decided to bring his own Company of Mary to life, fixing its Rule and making contact with the Seminary of the Holy Spirit, founded in Paris by his contemporary Claude François Poullart des Places, in order to obtain subjects. Priests such as René Mulot, Adrien Valet, and coadjutor brothers joined Montfort, and at his death they continued his work. Other priests later joined them, and in 1722, at St-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, in a poor house, they laid the foundations of the reconstituted Company of Mary, which on 27 Sept. 1748 was orally approved by Benedict XIV. Definitive approval dates to 25 Nov. 1775, confirmed by a brief of the following 16 Dec. The characteristic spirit of the Institute, emphasized in art. 1 of the Constitutions approved by the Church, is the sanctification of its own members and of souls « per exercitium praenobilis et sancti mancipatus erga Jesum per Mariam, juxta methodum Fundatoris ». Much opposed by the Jansenists even after the Letters patent of Louis XV of 1773, although with few members, it always displayed great apostolic activity, especially after the French Revolution, which had reaped numerous victims among its fathers and brothers.
In 1816 it counted only 16 priests and 4 lay brothers. It then grew with the flourishing of its apostolic schools willed by Pius IX to strengthen recruitment, which Montfort had intended to carry out only among the already formed clergy. At present it numbers 1420 members, and is divided into the 3 provinces of France, Holland, Canada and 4 vice-provinces: England, United States, Italy, Colombia. There have furthermore been entrusted to it missions in Nyasaland, Madagascar, Iceland, the Belgian Congo, Denmark, Mozambique, Haiti and Indonesia.