St. Montfort had coveted the establishment of the Society of Mary from the very beginning of his work as a priest. The Society of Mary Montfortian (SMM) is the name currently used, but previously used by Saint Montfort to name the Group he founded was the Company of Mary.

Terdorong oleh keinginan menjadi imam Louis-Marie de Montfort berjalan kaki sepanjang 300 km dari Rennes menuju Paris (1692). Dia mendapat pendidikan imamat di Seminari Tinggi Saint Sulpice di Paris dan mengikuti pendidikan akademik di Universitas Sorbone. Pada zaman itu, Saint Sulpice merupakan pusat pendidikan para calon imam di Perancis. Seminari ini terbagi atas Saint Sulpice Besar (Grand Séminaire de Saint Sulpice) and the Lesser Saint Sulpice (Petit Séminaire de Saint Sulpice). The Great Saint Sulpice housed the children of the nobility and the rich, and the Lesser Saint Sulpice housed the seminarians of the small and poor. Louis de Montfort certainly fell into this small group. To help support the life of the community, they are asked to work, including taking care of the bodies in funeral homes. After studying for 8 years at Saint Sulpice, Montfort was ordained a priest on 5 June 1700 by Mgr. de Flamenville in Paris in the palace chapel of the Diocese of Paris

The first years of the Montfort priesthood were filled with uncertainty. He moved from one place to another and alternated from one pastoral work to another. Many people admire him and not a few also hate and even reject him.

After being ordained a priest, Montfort left for Nantes and joined the community of St. Clement, a community of clergy led by Father Lévêque which organizes people's mission works. After several months in Nantes, Montfort felt that the community's mission work was not quite what he had hoped it would be. In his despair he wrote to Fr Leschassier: “In this situation, ever since I've been here, I feel like I'm being tossed between two seemingly contradictory feelings. From one side, I feel a longing for loneliness and hidden life to eradicate and fight the rotten nature that likes to arise in me. On the other hand, I feel a great urge to make the Lord Jesus and His Mother loved, to go as poor and humble, to teach catechisms to the poor in the countryside and to invite sinners to be devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bearing in mind the needs of the Church, I cannot help but ask continuously and lamentably for a small and poor collection of good priests who carry out this task under the banner and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (KS #5). It is in this letter that we learn of his longing for the founding of the Marian Society.

Because he did not feel at home in the community of St. Clement in Nantes, he accepted an offer to work in the hospital in Poitiers. This hospital is not a place to treat the sick, but a shelter for the homeless and beggars. Because of his uneasy relationship with the administrators at the hospital, Montfort left and then wandered like a tramp in Paris, without a clear place to live and work. Then Montfort returned to Poitiers and worked in the same hospital. In addition to working in the hospital, Montfort also provides pastoral and sacramental services in the vicinity of Poitiers.

In the uncertainty of his work and mission, Montfort decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome, wanting to meet the Pope and ask for direct guidance from the Holy Father. In 1706 he walked from western France to Rome with only a stick and a Rosary in his hand. After a long and tiring journey, Montfort finally arrived in Rome in early June 1706. He had the opportunity to meet Pope Clement XI. Montfort told of his unclear and uncertain 6-year priestly journey and expressed his longing to become a missionary in the eastern world. However, the Pope advised him to stay in France: “In France you have a fairly large field, enough to develop your activities. Do not go anywhere else; you should always work in full obedience to the bishops wherever you work.” Then the Pope gave him the title “Apostolic Missionary”.

With this title, Montfort got the right to carry out missionary work but still had to ask the local bishop for permission. After meeting with the Holy Father, Montfort returned to France on foot. As a form of gratitude, upon arrival in France, he immediately held a private retreat at the hermitage of Mount Saint Michelle and made a pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Ardillies in Saumur. From 1706 to 1710 Montfort carried out missionary work in the region of Brittany, namely in the dioceses of Saint-Malo, Saint Brieuc, and Nantes. They lived in a house in Saint Lazare, near Montfort Sur Meu. This house did not belong to his father but was managed by his father, and Montfort and his followers were allowed to use it. The mission in this region ended after the calvary that Montfort had founded in Pontchateau was destroyed by the order of King Louis XIV..

Then Montfort moved to the area of ​​La Rochelle. During the period 1710-1716 Montfort was able to carry out his mission in a planned manner in the Diocese of La Rochelle and Luçon. The Bishops in this area received Montfort very well and allowed him to work in peace. In this area he could think about the future of the group he had started. He made his rules and wrote books. He also called the Daughters of Wisdom from Poitiers to La Rochelle to build a school for children and serve the sick in the hospital. Physical and psychological exhaustion led Montfort to the end of his life. He died in Saint Laurent sur Sévre on April 28, 1716 at the age of 43 and only 16 years of his priesthood.

Montfort’s death was not the end of his work. From the beginning he had dreamed of a group that would evangelize under the protection of Our Lady, as in his letter to Father Leschassier: “Considering the needs of the Church, I cannot help asking constantly and with lamentation for a small and poor company of good priests to carry out this task under the banner and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (CS #5). This desire is emphasized in his prayer, called the Tempestuous Prayer: “Remember, O Lord, this congregation of yours. From eternity you have conceived it in your own mind”. “Send good workers into your harvest and excellent missionaries into your Church”. In the reflection of Louis-Marie Girgnion de Montfort, the congregation he envisioned was a group of children of Our Lady who carry out their work through Mary, with Mary, and in Mary. This is expressed in his prayer, "Do not forget to give Your Mother a new Society, so that everything can be renewed through her, and complete the age of grace through Mary, as You have begun it through her."

This longing had already begun to show signs of manifestation from the beginning. While working in Poitiers, he managed to convince a girl, Marie-Louise Trichet (1684-1759) to become his follower. On February 2, 1703, Marie-Louise Trichet received the gray habit from Montfort in the chapel of the homeless house in Poitiers. The first male follower was Mathurin Rangeard (1687-1760), a young man he met in a chapel in Poitiers in 1705. Mathurin was actually on his way to the Capuchin monastery because he wanted to join the Capuchin brothers. However, Montfort managed to convince him so that Mathurin canceled his entry into the Capuchins and changed course to become a follower of Montfort.

Although history records that Br. Mathurin never made a monastic vow, but he is recognized as the first member of the Society of Mary Montfortian and the year he met Montfort (1705) is considered the year the SMM was founded. During his missionary work, Montfort was accompanied by his followers, both priests, and laymen. Yet they came and went without being permanently associated with this group of missionaries. When Montfort died in 1716, only two priests were officially considered followers of Montfort, namely Adrien Vatel (1680- ) and René Mulot (1683-1749). With Br. Mathurin these two priests continued Montfort's work in France. But slowly but surely, this missionary group increased in number and expanded its mission area, and became a recognized union of the Catholic Church.

The name of this group changed over time. Montfort wanted the name to be the Society of Mary but people often called them Montfortians. After Montfort's death, the leadership was continued by René Mulot and they were called Mulotians with the name of their society becoming the Society of the Holy Spirit. In 1853 Pope Pius IX recognized this Society as a Pontifical Society and the Pope wanted the priests to return to the basic rule and to the name desired by Montfort, namely the Missionary priests of the Society of Mary. In the context of Montfort's beatification in 1888, Pope Leo XIII changed the name of this Society to the Society of Mary of Blessed Montfort. This change was deemed necessary because at that time there was already another order called the Society of Mary. However, since 1919 until now the name has been the Society of Mary Montfortian.

The dream of the Society of Mary had been realized and the Society of Mary continued to grow. Remembering the message of Pope Clement XI for Montfort to channel his missionary energy in France, the Montfortans felt that the SMM was exclusively for France. However, the Constitutions of the SMM of 1853 stated that the priests of the Society of Mary are always ready to carry the torch of the Gospel wherever they are sent, whether in France or to other countries, as far as the Vicar of Christ wills. The first foreign mission in France was Haiti. This change paved the way for the next change. The Basic Rules stated that missionaries should not be bound to the work of formation (not to open seminaries). Thus, the addition of members was expected only for priests who were willing to join Montfortans. However, in 1874, in the interests of missionary labor for Haiti, the Montfortans opened the Apostolic College in France.

The French political situation, anti-clerical fervor and persecution of the hierarchy forced the Montfortans to seek a safe haven for the formation of their candidates. In 1881 the Montfortian Novitiate was moved to the Netherlands. The new mission area targeted by SMM is Canada. In 1883 a priest and 5 brothers arrived in Canada and became pioneers of Montfortian's work there. In 1899 they began to open an Apostolic School in Huberdeau which for decades produced missionaries. After 10 years in Canada, in 1903 SMM Canada spread its wings to America. Thus SMM spread throughout Europe and the world including Latin America, Africa, and Asia including Indonesia.

The founding of the Society of Mary has come true and the Montfortians continue this dream by developing the Society of Mary Montfortan under the banner and protection of Our Lady.

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