MISSIONARIES OF THE COMPANY OF MARY. - From the very beginning of his priesthood, St. Luigi M. Grignion de Montfort (v.) had considered forming a company of missionaries who would preach to the abandoned populations of the countryside, and for many years he had kept in contact with the various diocesan companies then in existence, but none had wished to bind itself permanently to him.
Thus, in 1705, he decided to establish his own Company of Mary, drawing up its Rule and contacting the Seminary of the Holy Spirit, founded in Paris by his contemporary Claudio Francesco Poullart des Places, in order to obtain recruits. Priests such as Renato Mulot and Adriano Valet joined Montfort, as did lay coadjutor brothers, who continued his work after his death. Other priests subsequently joined them, and in 1722, at St-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, they laid the foundations, in a poor house, of the reconstituted Company of Mary, which was orally approved by Benedict XIV on 27 Sept. 1748. Definitive approval dates from 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 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 in 1773, although it had few members, it always displayed great apostolic activity, especially after the French Revolution, which had claimed numerous victims among its fathers and brothers.
In 1816 it numbered only 16 priests and 4 lay brothers. It subsequently grew through the flourishing of its apostolic schools, desired by Pius IX to strengthen recruitment, which Montfort had intended to carry out only among the already formed clergy. At present it numbers 1,420 members and is divided into the 3 provinces of France, Holland, and Canada and 4 vice-provinces: England, the United States, Italy, and Colombia. It has also been entrusted with missions in Nyasaland, Madagascar, Iceland, the Belgian Congo, Denmark, Mozambique, Haïti, and Indonesia.