In the mid nineteenth century in the village of Rubí, a small agricultural town on the outskirts of Barcelona (Spain), a prosperous family of Catalan merchants came into contact with English missionaries and decided to accept the new protestant faith.

At the beginning the twentieth century, the heir of the family, a child named Samuel, educated in the local Methodist church received as a prize for his work in Sunday School, a small toyprinting press with movable types made of rubber.

Motivated by his evangelizing impulses, with his child-like spirit, he took his brand new press and began to put together Bible verses and to print them on scraps of paper. He then tossed these out of the train window during this trips to Barcelona, so that all who might find them could read them and be converted to the truth of the Gospel.

The child grew and he decided to dedicate his life to the ministry. He studied under one of the disciples of the great preacher Charles Spurgeon. But his interest in literature and in the printing press did not diminish. To the contrary, it increased. When he was 26 years old, he wrote and published his first book, To The Fountain of Christianity, which presented the differences between the doctrine of the Catholic Church and that of the Evangelical Churches.

After this he continued with: Religion within Reach of the People, Faith and Reason, Tangible Proofs of God's Existence. He wrote fifty-two books throughout his life on various subjects. In 1924, Editorial SINTES of Barcelona, who published the first edition of To the Fountain of Christianity, decided not to continue with its publication. Samuel Vila, who was now a pastor, took the determination then to established his own publishing house which he called CLIE - Committee of Literature for the Evangelical Churches.

Upon ending the Spanish Civil War, the work and growth of CLIE was very difficult. During the years of the dictatorship. Evangelical literature was totally forbidden and the clandestine editions that were printed were pursued and confiscated by the police. But with the aid of printer friends, CLIE continued printing books and distributing them secretly in the churches and storing them in hidden rooms in private houses.

In 1965, seeing the need and the convenience of having his own printing facilites, Samuel Vila imported printing machinery from the United which had been tossed out as scrap metal. Then he installed and put in operation a clandestine print shop hidden in his own home. Now the clandestine print shop has been transformed into one of the most modern graphics industry in Spain functioning under the name Tesys Industria Gráfica, S.A.http://www.tesys.net

In 1967, after the promulgation in Spain of the Law of Religious Freedom, with the purpose of legalizing all the Christian ministries, Samuel Vila founded the HOREB EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN MISSION, a non profit religious organization, and CLIE became its publications department.

From here, the ministry of CLIE and its printing plant began to grow in a tremendously. Pastor Samuel Vila received an honorary doctorate and was named to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language. From "clandestine printer" and "Bible smuggler", Pastor Samuel Vila and his CLIE publishing house were converted into one of the principal exporters of books in Spain and into the largest and most prestigious evangelical publishing house in the Spanish language.

At present, after its founder at the age of 90 departed to meet with his Lord and Savior for who he had fought and worked, CLIE continues at the head of the Spanish evangelical publishing houses editing approximately 100 new titles each year. The CLIE name is recognized for the intelectual weight of its literature as a guarantee of quality.