Our Beginnings (RCM)

	Our Beginnings Our Congregation started in 1892 in Burgos, over a hundred years ago with Mother Carmen Sallés.
Mother Carmen was born in Vic, Barcelona, Spain, in 1848. By the time of her death, at 62, Carmen firmly had established the new congregation of Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.

Carmen was welcomed by the bishop of Burgos to start the new congregation. On December 8, 1892, she and her three companions received the official diocesan approval, and on that same day, they received their religious habit and made their profession of vows.

Soon, they opened a new school there. M. Carmen was able to open many other schools throughout Spain, some in small towns, others in big cities, because her call to educate the hearts and minds was for all social classes. Her mission within the Church was to dispel ignorance with knowledge and evil with virtue. In 1954 our Congregation received the canonical approval.

Carmen wanted to spread the Gospel to other lands, but illness and death kept her from realizing this dream. In 1912, a year after her death, the first group of Sisters set our for Brazil. Today, the Congregation is an international community, witnessing the love of Christ in twelve different countries:
Spain, Brazil, Venezuela, Japan, Italy, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, United States, Equatorial Guinea, Korea, Philippines, and Mexico.