Congregation of the Immaculate Conception

There are a number of Roman Catholic religious orders or congregations with Immaculate Conception in their name. Several of them are discussed here.

The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God (abbreviated SMIC) are an institute of religious sisters in the Roman Catholic Church. The congregation belongs to the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. They were founded in 1910 in Santarém, Brazil, by Armand August Bahlmann, OFM, and Mother Immaculata (born Elizabeth Tombrock), both natives of Germany, to educate the children of the poor throughout the world.

The Order of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, otherwise known as the "Conceptionists", was founded in 1484 at Toledo, Spain, by Beatrice of Silva, sister of Blessed Amadeus of Portugal. The foundress determined on the habit, which was white, with a white scapular and blue mantle.

The Mission Priests of the Immaculate Conception, also known as the Missionaries of Rennes, was founded at St-Méen in the Diocese of Rennes, by Jean-Marie-Robert de Lamennais, for the care of the diocesan seminary and the holding of missions. It subsequently united with the Society of St. Peter, established by his younger brother, Félicité de Lamennais, in 1829 at La Chênaie, forming the Congrégation de Saint-Pierre.

The Servites of the Immaculate Conception were founded at Constantinople in 1864 by Peter Kharischirashvili, a Georgian Hieromonk formerly of the Mekhitarist Congregation in San Lazzaro Island, to minister to the spiritual wants of the Georgian people. The congregation was confirmed by Pius IX, 29 May 1875. Approval was given for the use of three rites, Roman Rite, Armenian Rite, and the Byzantine Rite in the traditional Old Georgian liturgical language. The first two were for use among the Georgians in their native country, the last to keep up the Greek-Georgian Rite in the monastery at Constantinople, which was the mother-house of the congregation.

The priests of the Immaculate Conception got charge of three congregations at Constantinople, one at Feri-kuei, for Georgians and Armenians, another for the Latins at Scutari, and a third for Georgian Greek Catholics at Pera.

Candidates for the priesthood were ordained in Saratov by the Bishop of Tiraspol, who was the ecclesiastical superior of the Catholic Church in Georgia; for a time they filled parish duties as secular priests, after which they were appointed by the congregation to a post where they might minister to their countrymen.

The Sister Servites of the Immaculate Conception conducted two primary schools, to which children are admitted, without distinction of creed.