Marians pledge support to the Pope and follow the official teachings of the Catholic Church and aim to spread devotion to Blessed Virgin Mary as the Immaculate Conception, pray for the souls in purgatory and undertake a variety of apostolic work.

On December 11, 1670, Stanislaus Papczyński publicly announced in his Oblatio the desire to establish a community of men dedicated to spreading the honor to the Immacuate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[8] Pope Innocent XII granted his approval for the young institute in 1699 with solemn vows under the French Rule of the Ten Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, initially placing them within the Franciscans.

The man elected to serve as Superior General was Andrew of St. Matthew Deszpot, a Czech originally received into the institute by the founder Papczyński.

The rest of 18th century was marked by steady growth as the Marians expanded from Poland to Portugal and Italy thanks to the efforts of two outstanding Superiors General of the institute: Casimir Wyszyński (1700–1755) and Raymond Nowicki (1735–1801).

In Eastern Europe following the Vienna Congress of 1815, most of the Marian monasteries found themselves in the newly created Kingdom of Poland, which was part of Imperial Russia, whose Czarist regime was openly hostile to the Catholic Church.

At this critical moment in the history of the Marian institute, an ardent and energetic Lithuanian priest came to visit Sękowski, with the aim of secretly renewing it.

Matulaitis wrote the renewed institute's constitutions, inspired by the spirit of Stanislaus Papczyński and the desire to adapt his ideals to modern times.

To assure that the institute could continue to flourish without interference from the Imperial government, the secret Marian novitiate and house of studies were transferred from St. Petersburg in Russia to Fribourg in Switzerland.

Yet Matulaitis did not change the main ideals of the religious community, such as spreading devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and supplication for the souls suffering in Purgatory.

Although it is now an international organization, the Marians still have strong roots in Poland, (e.g. the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń) and place a great deal of emphasis on spreading the messages of Divine Mercy of Faustina Kowalska.

Between 1950 and 1986 the Marian Fathers operated two boarding schools in England, at Lower Bullingham near Hereford and the second, Divine Mercy College, at Fawley Court, Buckinghamhire, (north of Henley-on-Thames).

In 1987, the Marians distributed the film Divine Mercy: No Escape, which depicted the life of Maria Faustina Kowalska and featured a presentation by Pope John Paul II.

The Fathers laid plans to erect an ambitious new shrine to Mary, to rival that of Czestochowa, in the village Licheń Stary, scene of a 19th-century Napoleonic soldier's devotion.

The resulting basilica and visitor centre, designed by Barbara Bielecka and blessed in 1999 by John Paul II, was completed in 2004 and is said to be the largest church building in Poland.

[10] In 2009 the Marian Fathers controversially sold the Grade I listed Fawley Court, which had previously served as a school, museum and focus for the Polish community in Britain.