Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception
| Established | 1902 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Mother Délia Tetreault, MIC |
| Founded at | Montreal Canada |
| Type | Centralized Religious Institute of Consecrated Life of Pontifical Right (for Women) |
| Headquarters | Generalate |
Region served | Asia, Africa, North America and South America |
Members | 669 |
Postnominal initials | M.I.C. |
| Affiliations | Roman Catholic |
| Website | http://soeurs-mic.qc.ca/ |
The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are members of a
History
Tétreault was born on a farm in rural Quebec. Having lost her mother in infancy, her father entrusted her care to her maternal aunt and her husband before emigrating to the United States for work. She was raised in a very religious household and grew up reading stories of the missions run by the Catholic Church in Africa and Asia. As a young woman she felt called to take part in this effort, and attempted to join a religious institute twice. Both times, however, her lifelong poor health prevented her from achieving this goal.[1]
Tétreault spent twenty years serving the needs of the residents of a poor neighborhood in
In 1902,
Tétreault and her companions were allowed to profess
By the time she had taken ill and had started to withdraw from the administration of the congregation, the foundress had opened 36 houses of Missionary Sisters: 19 in Asia, 16 in Canada and one in Rome.[1]
Expansion
After World War II, during which period Tétreault had died, the congregation established new communities in Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Madagascar, Malawi, Peru, Taiwan, Vietnam and Zambia, where they now serve.
The Sisters were expelled from China in 1953, with the sole exception of a Chinese member, Sister Lucia Ho, M.I.C.[2]
Ebola crisis
During the
. Many of the staff members became infected. One of the Hospitaller Brothers, Miguel Parajes, O.H., a native of Spain, was airlifted back to his homeland by his government. Spain also transported Sister Juliana Bonoha Bohé, M.I.C., who was a native of Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony. She tested negative for the disease, however, when she arrived in Madrid. That government, however, refused to transport the other member of the community.References
- ^ a b c d "Foundress-Biography". Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.
- ^ a b "MIC History: A Time for Growth". Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.