Volume 1 of the CMM History (Valkhof Pers, Nijmegen 2014).

It was a daring initiative, the outcome of which was not in the least secure. It was not only Bishop Zwijsen who had taken on a daring project; the young brothers, too, had set out on a big precarious adventure. One had left behind a successful company and made his wealth available to the bishop in support of the new congregation. Others left the security of their respective trades and embarked upon a whole new field of activity. In any event, all of them had joined an unknown congregation and a budding spiritual movement.

The spirit of the times strengthened their aspirations; the church resonated with social and spiritual engagement. Congregations of brothers and sisters were founded elsewhere in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. They took on education and other works of charity. And in the throes of it all, Bishop Zwijsen stood strong as its inestimable founder.

And so the first brothers trusted their feelings and followed their vocation. They had already had some experience of life and had gained in maturity. Brother Basilius was aged thirty-seven, Brother Bernardus twenty-seven, Brother Jozef twenty-five, Brother Vincentius twenty and Father Franciscus Salesius twenty-four when they started in Tilburg. They believed in the work they were about to undertake: sharing in the mission of mercy and the apostolate of the church and collectively tackling the needs of their time.

This first volume of the History of the Brothers of Our Lady Mother of Mercy aims to capture the dynamics of the founding of the congregation, in the industrial town of Tilburg in the years 1844-1846.