A Certain Idea of the Society of Mary: Jean-Claude Colin

Having been invited to speak to you about Jean-Claude Colin on this celebration of the Bi-centenary of his birth, I could have prepared a carefully worked-out conference on one or other aspect of his life or attempted a synthesis of his personality, his contribution to the Church and to our religious families. In fact, I […]

December 24, 1836: In Whatever Part of the World

On Christmas Eve, 1836, an hour before noon, after two months of waiting, the right combination of wind and tide finally enabled La Josephine and La Delphine to leave Le Havre. On La Josephine, Bishop Blanc was taking twenty one missionaries, priests, brothers, and sisters, to New Orleans. On La Delphine, which was sailing for […]

September 24, 1836: the Society of Mary “drawn up as in battle array”

We spent time yesterday getting some sense of what April 29, 1836, meant for the Marist enterprise. Today I invite you to give similar attention to the date of September 24. The brief of April 29 empowered, in a precise and limited way, the priest members of the Society of Mary to elect a superior […]

Making Fr Colin’s Vision of the Society of Mary Work For Us.

When Father Colin resigned as superior general of the Marist Fathers in 1854, one of his main concerns was to give himself, at long last, the leisure he needed to finish writing the rule for Marists.

Marist Roots: Our Shared Vision of the Past

On October 2,1868, Father Jeantin wrote Father Colin: Father David and myself found the house at Lyon still quite disturbed over your discussion with Father General in the dining room. Some very quick and very strong words were heard, and some would conclude from this that Father Founder is a victim of his nerves and […]

What do our Marist History and Charism call us to today?

“My Lord, this is the day the little Society of Mary begins. Mr. Declas arrived in Cerdon”. Thus starts a letter of Pierre Colin, pastor of Cerdon, to Bishop Devie of Belley. The letter is dated October 29,1824 (OM, doc.114). As it happens, we know it was received in Belley and answered the very next […]

Claudine of Lyon: the French Connection

In 1838, Father Claude Mayet, who hard joined the Marists less than a year before, wrote down the following words, where Father Jean-Claude Colin, his superior general;, told of the trip he had made to Rome in 1833: I know, Colin said, that among cardinals and generally in Rome during my trip, it was my […]

Outlining a Marist Project

The task before us in this first talk centers on delineating a Marist project. What is the Society of Mary about? What are its goals? How does it plan to fulfil them? The second and third talks will focus on working out some implications for assessing candidates and for formation. In delineating the a Marist […]

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