The Society of Mary

Today marks several events of note in our Marist history. While in the seminary in 1815-1816, several young men, led at the time by Jean-Claude Courveille, bantered about his idea, based on an alleged vision, about forming a new religious order as another arm of reform initiated by the Jesuits several centuries earlier. It was to be called The Society of Mary and was to have four branches: priests (today's Marist Fathers), brothers, (today's Marist Brothers), sisters (The Marist Sisters), and a Third Order for lay people, (today known as The Third Order of Mary). Fr. Marcellin Champagat was the first to move on the idea, as we know, founding the Marist Brothers in 1817, not even a year after his ordination. Fr. Jean-Claude Colin, another one of these seminarians, forged ahead with the founding of the Marist Fathers and along with Jeanne-Marie Chavoin, founded the Marist Sisters, a teaching order. A second group of Marist Sisters, known as the Marist Missionary Sisters was founded much later by a group of laywomen, headed by Franciose Perroton, who left for Oceania on this day in 1845 to help the Marist Fathers (and Brothers) with missionary work in the South Pacific. After several years as lay missionaries, these women were asked to consider becoming a religous order, one which was finally approved in 1932. While these congregations share the common name, Marist, and a common Marial spirituality, they are four distinct and independent congregations, a fact often unknown.
This is also the anniversary of the death of Fr. Colin who died in 1873. On this date in 1880, the Marist Brothers opened an establishment in Rome, where our General Headquarters are located. Fittingly, Marists in the United States are praying for a group of brothers who have answered the call made by our then Superior General, Bro. Sean Sammon, to leave home and bring the Gospel "to the nations" (Ad Gentes). These men are following in the footsteps of the early missionaries and are concentrating on countries in Asia, where Marists have never ventured, or where, such as in China, our earlier work was suppressed by the Communist Government, but where there is now some leeway and tolerance for the presence of religious. Already, in Indonesia, for example, there are young men in formation to become Marist Brothers. Let us pray in thanksgiving for these and the earlier founders who dared to take creative initiatives "to make Jesus known and loved."
Bro. Rene