About the Collections

Welcome to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) Philippines Province’s  (RP) Digital Archives. This portal shall adopt the official appellation of CICM-RP Digital Archives.

Our vast collection spans the period from the preparation for the arrival of the first CICM missionaries on Philippine shores in 1907 to the present. Covering a compilation of 22,000 files with over half a million pages of manuscripts, extant documents, and various publications, the general collection covers and is classified under ten headings following the general classification standard to CICM:

1. INDIVIDUAL FILES (Private, 1926 files)

Collection containing the official records and personal dossiers of CICM priests and brothers who came to the Philippine shores to study, do apostolate, either died in the islands or continued to other foreign missions, or left the Institute for another vocation. In the history of CICM-RP, around 1900 confreres of international origins graced our ministry in this country.

Only deactivated files of confreres are in this collection. The files of living confreres are classified as active and therefore are not yet digitized and accessible.

In view of international archival conventions concerning personal files, only records of confreres covering the period from the foundation of the province until 1973 are classified and may be allowed access for serious perusal.

2. PUBLICATIONS (Public, 11 files)

This general collection covers the congregational and provincial official newsletters that record the origins, growth, expansion, and also suppression of the many mission stations, parishes, schools, and social apostolate engaged in by confreres.

• Missien van Scheut in print from 1907 to 1939
• The Little Apostle of the Mountain Province from 1924 to April 1952
• The Apostle of the Mountain Province from May 1952 to September 1965
• The Apostle from October 1965 to March 1970
• Nova et Vetera from May 1966 to the present
• Chronica Congregationis (CICM) from February 1931 to the present

3. CICM RP Relations with other Organizations and individuals (Private, 377 files)

This collection includes relevant official correspondences of CICM-RP Provincial administration with some government and non-government bodies and individuals that show the many social engagements of CICM-RP in the course of its history in the Philippines.

4. CICM RP Relations with Institutes of Consecrated Life (Private, 169 files)

This collection contains important official communications of CICM-RP Provincial administration made with the many other congregations and church bodies as it collaborates with these for significant activities and projects made through the years.

5. CICM RP Relations with the Hierarchy (Private, 257 files)

Before the foundation of the mission and during its presence and ministry in the Philippines, the RP Mission and eventually the RP Administration engaged in official communications with the Church hierarchy in the Vatican (the Curia) as it navigated its way through the administration of the province and dispensing of the laws of the Church necessary in the management of the Province.

6. RP Province (Private, 5412 files)

This collection includes files on the foundation and ministry of the RP Province through its history. Covering the historical accounts, files on the administration, foundation, and suppression of mission stations, general reports of the presence and pastoral ministries of missionaries in the mission stations, and sectoral engagements, this collection paints a picture of a Province steeped in the goal and excellence in doing apostolate in the many areas and sectors it involved with. Generally, this collection covers official appointments, financial accounts and reports, minutes of provincial assemblies, mandated committees’ reports, district meetings, and mission station and community reports.  

7. CICM RP Relations with CICM Regions (Private, 5394 files)

Being a Province belonging to a bigger regional grouping of CICM Provinces and Autonomous Districts in Asia and the world, this collection includes the official correspondences and reports on the CICM RP meetings, collaboration, and discernment on the many relevant issues pertinent to the life and administration of the Province.

8. CICM RP Relations with the General Government (Private, 5488 files)

Indispensable in the administration and management of the Province, the Provincial government regularly corresponds with the General Administration in Rome. This collection encompasses files such as periodic communications of Superiors, provincial administration, and committees’ reports, directives, and clarifications on the administration and management of the Province.

9. General Chapters (Private, 1410 files)

Every six years, the General Chapter of the Congregation is convoked to assess the overall direction and evaluate the missionary thrust of the Congregation, to elect the members of the General Administration, and to submit reports from the Provinces and entities to describe the general status of the mission of CICM. This important assembly of superiors and delegates warrants official reports from the Provinces culled from the various reports from individual confreres and districts in preparation for the chapters.

10. Miscellanies (Private)

A few confreres engaged and excelled not only in their official priestly and missionary functions but also in their personal endeavors, which largely contributed to the discovery and understanding of the general life in the Philippines, its flora, fauna, and the peoples’ cultures. This compilation includes the works, both published and unpublished, of the few confreres who involved themselves in linguistics (publication of dictionaries and translations of important church works), ethnography (publication and reports on the discovery of new plant species), and general anthropology (publications and reports on the scholarly studies of native indigenous cultures and traditions).  It must be noted that the excellent academic importance of the works of these confreres was recognized by universities both locally and abroad and routinely acknowledged by international academic societies and organizations. The vast research manuscripts and various academic publications of Fr. Francis H. Lambrecht and Fr. Morice Van Overbergh are contained in this collection.

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