Fathers Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Belgium, from the Beginning to 1970

Based upon the sources preserved at archives of Oblate provinces, at the archives of the General House of Rome and at diocesan archives, this doctoral dissertation aims to understand the development and the evolution of the religious congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) in Belgium from 1905 until 1970.

The method that wil be used is the historical-critical method of historians on original sources. The context will be clarified by the use of published literature on the subject and on the history of the Church in our country. I will make use of statistical analysis, text analysis methods and prosopography. This thesis situates itself in the context of the history of religious missionary congregations in contemporary era and in the current methodology of the history of evangelization.