A common misconception found in popular, and even some scholarly, literature is that "the missionaries" are a homogeneous category about whom it is easy to make broad generalisations. When a more accurate appraisal of the role of missionaries in Malawi and elsewhere will be reached when each partiular missionary initiative is subjected to critial study. This work fills a gap in our knowledge of the Catholic missions since it is the viewpoint of the White Fathers which predominates in the seminal work of K. and J. Linden, Catholics, Peasants, and Chewa Resistance in Nyasaland 1889-1939. It intends to identify, assess, and evaluate the Montfortian spirituality and charism by examining, as far as possible within the context of their times, the lives and works of the three Montfortian pioneers in Malawi and their successors.