First period
From the death of P. Baudouin to the end of the 19th century.
After Fr. Baudouin's death, the Congregation was relaunched and the first foundations laid.
The relaunch of the Congregation.
In 1818, Bishop Paillou of La Rochelle abolished the small Society of Religious Priests founded by P. Baudouin.
Some seminary professors had asked Fr. Baudouin, then retired to Chavagnes from 1828, after the death of Mother St. Benoît, to revive the little society started in 1804.
After his death on February 11, 1835, Fr. Baizé, prefect of studies at the seminary and a friend of Fr. Baudouin, seemed ideally placed to revive the little society in the spirit of Fr.
Following lengthy discernment and research, and a 30-day retreat during the 1841 vacation, an election chapter was held. Fr. Baizé was elected Superior General, and 9 priests and a deacon took their first vows on September 21, 1841, in the presence of Mgr Soyer, Bishop of Luçon. Five other members were admitted to begin a novitiate.
The first religious were initially called "Oblate Priests", and three years later took on the title of "Society of the Children of Mary", the name Fr. Baudouin had given the little society.
On July 22, 1857, the congregation became of pontifical right under the name of "Children of Mary", whose purpose was "the missions and education of youth, especially in the minor seminaries".
1839: Mouilleron en Pareds. The presbytery becomes a residence for missionaries, and in 1844 is set up as a novitiate house, then as a motherhouse for the fledgling congregation. In 1850, the St Sauveur house was completed and became the Mother House and Novitiate House until the latter was transferred to Chavagnes in 1861.
1845: Niort. Father Morin, a member of the Society of the Children of Mary, came from St Jean d'Angély one day to go to La Rochelle, but got into the wrong car and arrived in Niort. He was welcomed by Fr. Serre, chaplain and founder of the Filles du Saint Cœur de Marie. Father Serre, interested in the new society, wanted a foundation in Niort and asked Father Baizé, who refused, as the membership was still too small. Fr. Serre insisted, and in Lent 1845, Frs. Coumailleau and Pécot arrived in Niort. A few years later, Fr. Pécot would become the founder of the Sisters of the Immaculate.
1860: Chavagnes. Maison Ste Marie is built as a novitiate house. It housed the novitiate from 1861 until the expulsions of 1903. In 1920, it became a juniorate for the training of young people.
1861: St Maixent de Beugné. A missionary residence in Deux-Sèvres (diocese of Poitiers).
1867: Saumur. A residence serving the Notre Dame des Ardillers pilgrimage in Anjou.
1876: St Jean d'Angély. Founded at the request of Mgr Léon Thomas, who expressed his wish that "the Children of Mary establish a house in St Jean d'Angély for missions, parish service and the chaplaincy of nuns".
1889: La Roche sur Yon. At first, a "pied à terre" was built, so that "our missionary fathers, obliged to pass frequently through La Roche for their ministry, could have at least one foot on the ground to wait in peace for the departure times of the railroads". The "pied à terre" soon became a residence for missionaries, and then the parish of the Immaculate.
1891: Limoux (diocese of Carcassonne). Takeover of the Collège-Petit Séminaire St Louis. Abbé Destren, archpriest of Limoux, contacts the congregation in June 1891 "on behalf of Monseigneur Billaud", bishop of Carcassonne. He suggested the Saint Louis school in Limoux to P. Trottin. By 1891, nine members of the congregation were working at the Limoux college. The rules and regulations of the Collège de Limoux make it quite clear that it was in fact a minor seminary.
1892: Castel Nègre, near Limoux. Foundation of a juniorate. A widow, Madame Meunier, sold her house, known as "Castel-nègre", to the E.M.I. fathers in 1892. The property was located in the commune of Alet, near Limoux. From 1894, a number of fathers joined the coadjutor brothers who had been there since 1892, and began teaching Latin to young children who were destined to join the congregation in the future. Thus, between 1891 and 1903, the E.M.I. were heavily involved in the diocese of Carcassonne: running a secondary school, managing a profitable farm and founding a "juvenate" at Castel nègre to improve the Society's recruitment. But in 1900, the students were expelled from the establishment. They were among "the first victims of persecution at the turn of the century".