The founders of the congregation were eleven lay-women who left France from the early nineteenth century to assist in the missions established by the Marist Fathers in the South Pacific.
[2] In 1881 the members took vows as religious and were established as a diocesan congregation, Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Mary (TORM).
[4] They later extended their ministry to New Zealand, and Boston, Massachusetts, USA as well as, Algeria, Senegal, Mauritania, Burundi, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Philippines, Germany, Tanzania and England.
[4] As of 2020, there are about 400 Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary working in twenty-three countries mostly in the areas of education and religious communication.
[5] The Province of South Pacific is made up of the five island countries of New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Philippines.