Marist Family
The “Society of Mary” was born on 23rd July 1816, at the Shrine of Notre Dame de Fourvière (in Lyon, France).
The founders: a group of twelve seminarians, among them Jean-Claude Colin and Marcellin Champagnat. Their vision became all embracing, this ‘Society of Mary’ to which they were committing themselves, would embrace in one movement priests, brothers, sisters and a third order of lay men and women. It would be a ‘family’ with four branches.
They were bound together by their spiritual ideal: to put themselves, like Mary, at the service of the Church through a work that was discreet and hidden, yet generous and dynamic.
The Marist Fathers & Brothers of the Society of Mary
The foundation of a Society bearing the name of Mary “to respond to the great needs of the peoples” became a reality with Fr Jean Claude Colin. In a de-Christianised France, the Marist Fathers conducted missions in the countryside and set up schools. In 1836, at the request of the Pope, they agreed to go to Oceania and establish new mission territories. Today, there are about 600 members in five continents.
“To be a Marist is to be called and chosen, through a love freely bestowed on us, to live the Gospel as Mary did, in a Society, which bears her name”.
Marist Fathers Constitutions
The Marist Brothers
The Marist Brothers began in 1817 as a response to the spiritual, educational and physical needs of the young and the poor. The founder, a young French Marist Father, Marcellin Champagnat was part of the Fourvière group of twelve, he responded to these needs by training young men as teachers. Around 2,400 Marist Brothers now work in more than 60 countries in schools and in other educational, developmental and catechetical projects.
“We do our best to remain faithful to the Spirit of the Risen Saviour, who gives us, as he did the first Christians, the grace to live “one in mind and heart”.
Marist Brothers Constitutions
The first women’s branch of the Society of Mary began in France at Cerdon in 1817 and continued to develop at Belley, thanks to the insight and zeal of Jeanne Marie Chavoin. The Marist Sisters recognize Jean-Claude Colin as their founder and Jeanne-Marie Chavoin as their foundress. Following her example, Marist Sisters today live out their mission in the Church especially with young people, the poor and the sick, in Europe, Australia and Oceania, the Americas and Africa.
The Marist Sisters
“Our congregation is characterised by the desire to make the mystery of Mary in the church the daily inspiration of its life and action, and not by any special work nor by the promotion of any particular form of Marian devotion.”
Marist Sisters Constitutions
The Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary
Founded by Françoise Perroton, a French lay women who travelled to the island of Wallis in Oceania in 1845, not long after the first Marist Fathers arrived there. She lived as a member of the Third Order of Mary and ministered especially to the women and children of the island. In 1931 the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary were approved as a religious congregation.
“We wish to respond to the calls of today with the daring and zeal of the pioneers. We want to keep alive this daring – simple, joyful and prudent – based solely on the love and power of God in order to announce the Gospel in its force and integrity, learning to adapt ourselves to different cultures and conditions of life.”
Marist Missionary Sisters Constitutions
The Lay Branches of the Marist Family
The original vision for the Marist project saw ‘the whole world Marist’, through the lives of countless lay people taking on the spirit of Mary. Lay involvement in the Marist Family shaped by Saint Julian Eymard as the Third Order of the Society of Mary. It has since developed into a wide variety of Marist groups of lay faithful in different parts of the world. Whatever their name, these groups gather together men and women, married or single, families and friends, who wish to be inspired by the Marist intuition in order to live their commitment as lay persons in the Church and in the world.
“The distinctive characteristic of Marist laity is the style of their mission. They live their spirituality immersed in this world. They are the “presence of Mary” where the other branches cannot reach: in their place of work, social life, with their friends and neighbours, and in civil society.”
Statutes of the European Marist Laity