8 - Some of the Sayings of Saint Marcellin Champagnat

Marcellin Champagnat was not a great theorist. His ideas came out of his own very real experiences, and his expression of his ideas often owed much to other familiar and respected writers. But there are a few key expressions of his which are very precious to Marist educators. One of three is: “To educate children properly, we must love them and love them all equally.” If that is all that Champagnat ever said, it would be worth remembering and inscribing in every staffroom, in every Marist educational establishment and in every home where the Gospel values of love and justice hold a place. He went on to say that the aim of Marist education is to produce good Christians and good citizens.

For Marcellin, Mary is the model of the way we should follow Jesus: “Mary is a kind mother; she listens to us and asks her Son to hear our prayers. That is why we call her Our Good Mother. She is the model of the way we should act and behave. Everything we do should be done in the spirit in which Mary acted - humbly, simply, honestly, generously, willingly, whole-heartedly. All that we are and do should be directed to Jesus through Mary, and all to Mary for Jesus.”

No greater words of Champagnat’s can be found than those he spoke in his last will and testament: “I hope it can be said of the Brothers and of all they work with and teach: ‘See how they love one another’. I ask all of you to listen to the words of your father; they are the words of Jesus himself: ‘Love one another, as I have loved you.’ ”

Amongst his favourite Scripture passages was a verse from Psalm 127: ‘If the Lord does not build the house, then the work of the builder is useless.’ Champagnat expands on this when he ways: “We are completely dependent on God for everything that happens to us in life. We need to remember that everything we do has value only in so far as we do it for God. Any good we do for other people only bears fruit if God blesses our work.” This is the key to that faith which Champagnat lived so profoundly that we are entitled to call him Saint Marcellin Champagnat.

“I want those working in our establishments to be able to go where other people may not be able to go, whether it is to a particular place or whether is it to do a job that other people can’t do. I want them to hear the cry of the poor in every place and in every age, whether it is the cry of those who have no money, or no shelter, or no education, or the cry of those who are abandoned by family and friends, or simply the cry of those who are in need of attention.”

For the young he had this to say: “People of every age need to be encouraged and affirmed, especially the young, because little difficulties thwart them and make them abandon their good efforts.” And amongst his most charming phrases was: “Tell the children that God loves them; those that are good because they will become more so; and those that are not yet good because they will become so.” He speaks touchingly: “I can never see children without wishing to tell them how much Jesus loves them.”

Champagnat’s offerings were simple; they were aimed at country people of little education in a world very different to ours. But those simple offerings have stood the test of time because they are simple and because they present deep truths.

8 - Some of the Sayings of Saint Marcellin Champagnat

Marcellin Champagnat was not a great theorist. His ideas came out of his own very real experiences, and his expression of his ideas often owed much to other familiar and respected writers. But there are a few key expressions of his which are very precious to Marist educators. One of three is: “To educate children properly, we must love them and love them all equally.” If that is all that Champagnat ever said, it would be worth remembering and inscribing in every staffroom, in every Marist educational establishment and in every home where the Gospel values of love and justice hold a place. He went on to say that the aim of Marist education is to produce good Christians and good citizens.

For Marcellin, Mary is the model of the way we should follow Jesus: “Mary is a kind mother; she listens to us and asks her Son to hear our prayers. That is why we call her Our Good Mother. She is the model of the way we should act and behave. Everything we do should be done in the spirit in which Mary acted - humbly, simply, honestly, generously, willingly, whole-heartedly. All that we are and do should be directed to Jesus through Mary, and all to Mary for Jesus.”

No greater words of Champagnat’s can be found than those he spoke in his last will and testament: “I hope it can be said of the Brothers and of all they work with and teach: ‘See how they love one another’. I ask all of you to listen to the words of your father; they are the words of Jesus himself: ‘Love one another, as I have loved you.’ ”

Amongst his favourite Scripture passages was a verse from Psalm 127: ‘If the Lord does not build the house, then the work of the builder is useless.’ Champagnat expands on this when he ways: “We are completely dependent on God for everything that happens to us in life. We need to remember that everything we do has value only in so far as we do it for God. Any good we do for other people only bears fruit if God blesses our work.” This is the key to that faith which Champagnat lived so profoundly that we are entitled to call him Saint Marcellin Champagnat.

“I want those working in our establishments to be able to go where other people may not be able to go, whether it is to a particular place or whether is it to do a job that other people can’t do. I want them to hear the cry of the poor in every place and in every age, whether it is the cry of those who have no money, or no shelter, or no education, or the cry of those who are abandoned by family and friends, or simply the cry of those who are in need of attention.”

For the young he had this to say: “People of every age need to be encouraged and affirmed, especially the young, because little difficulties thwart them and make them abandon their good efforts.” And amongst his most charming phrases was: “Tell the children that God loves them; those that are good because they will become more so; and those that are not yet good because they will become so.” He speaks touchingly: “I can never see children without wishing to tell them how much Jesus loves them.”

Champagnat’s offerings were simple; they were aimed at country people of little education in a world very different to ours. But those simple offerings have stood the test of time because they are simple and because they present deep truths.

9 -Marist Presence in the World Today

The Marist Brothers of the Schools, The Little Brothers of Mary. These are the official titles of the Marist Brothers, who are distinguished in the Church from the SJs (the Jesuits), the OFMs (the Franciscans), the FSCs (the Brothers of the Christian Schools, whom we in Australia call the De La Salle Brothers), by the letters FMS – Institutum Fratrum Maristarum a Scholis, or Fratelli Maristi delle Scuole. The General House of the Marist Brothers is in Rome, in the area called EUR (Esposizione Universale di Roma) planned by Mussolini as the Third Rome. The Mother House of the Institute is The Hermitage, near Lyons in France, and the Cradle of the Institute is just up the road from The Hermitage at La Valla.

At this time there are some 4900 Marist Brothers throughout the world in 820 communities in 44 Provinces in 74 countries. In the years since the Brothers were founded in 1817, some 9590 Brothers have died in the Institute. The work of the Brothers includes primary, secondary and tertiary schools and colleges, universities, agricultural schools, work with children with difficulties such as drug addiction and social problems, street children, children in deprived areas, work with immigrants, work in mission territories and in young adult communities, amongst other commitments.

There are 82 communities in Africa from Nigeria through Kenya to South Africa; 376 communities in the Americas, North and South (Brazil has six provinces); there are 41 communities in Asia - this includes eight Brothers who live in China but may not gather as a community; the 228 communities in Europe range throughout Great Britain and Ireland, France, Italy, Switzerland and Hungary, among others – and while there are only two communities in Athens, there are 115 in Spain. In Oceania, which includes Australia, New Zealand, and the many islands of the area – Fiji, the Solomons, Papua-New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, etc. – there are 94 communities.

The Institute is divided into 44 provinces and four districts under the General Council which operates from Rome. The current Superior General is Brother Benito Arbues Rubiol from Spain – he is the eleventh Superior General in a line which includes Brother Charles Howard, a Brother from the Sydney Province, who held the office immediately before Brother Benito. The Superior General is currently elected for eight years and is assisted by eight Councillors General, one of whom is an Australian. In fact there has been an Australian in the General Administration since 1928 (Brother Clement Murray).

To limit “Marist Presence” to the Marist Brothers is to do an injustice to the other branches of the Marist Family. The original plan for the Society of Mary included Priests, Sisters and a “Third Order” of Lay People. It was Champagnat who insisted on a group of Brothers and he began his branch of the Society 2 January 1817. Jeanne-Marie Chavoin, under the guidance of Father Colin began the Marist Sisters branch of the Society towards the end of 1817: today there are 470 Sisters in 18 countries, engaged in education in parishes and the missions. The Fathers, co-founded by Father Jean-Claude Colin and Father Champagnat, gained Papal approval and were given charge of the Missions of Oceania in 1836; there are some 1400 Marist Fathers working in 37 countries. The Marist Missionary Sisters had a longer gestation period under the influence of FranÁoise Perroton, and are consecrated to missionary work; 600 Sisters work in 36 countries. Then there is the vast and growing number of dedicated lay people who are committed to Mary’s work within the spiritual tradition of the various Marist founders. The Marist vision of the early years of the 19^th century has expanded and continues to be a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church in our time.

10 – Marist Presence in Australia

The story of the arrival of the Marist Brothers in 1872 is well enough known not to need repeating in detail here. Under the leadership of Brother Ludovic, three Brothers – Augustine, Jarlath and Patrick - began the Marist Brothers’ apostolate in Australia at St Patrick’s, Church Hill. Expansion came quickly: schools in and around Sydney – Hunters Hill (near the Marist Fathers, who had been settled there for some years), Broadway, Haymarket, Parramatta, and regular requests from Bathurst which the Brothers were never able to fulfil. There were foundations in New Zealand, Samoa and New Caledonia as well. Vocations flocked in and the Institute flourished in this part of the world.

Expansion was so rapid that by 1916 it was time to split in two the Australian Province, which extended from Samoa to New Norcia in Western Australia: New Zealand and the islands would go their own way. Expansion of the Marist apostolate on the Australian mainland had continued: the Hunter Valley, Lismore, Kogarah, schools in Queensland and more schools in Victoria and South Australia. Most of the work was in Primary and Secondary schools which were staffed almost entirely by Marist Brothers: lay teachers were by far the exception. In 1896 the Brothers had begun an orphanage at Westmead and in 1938 they began missionary work in the Solomon Islands.

By the mid Forties the Australian Province had grown so big that another division was required. In 1948 the Province was split in two: 229 Brothers and 31 communities (mostly schools, apart from Houses of Formation) in the Sydney Province covering NSW and Queensland, and 102 Brothers and 17 communities in the Melbourne Province which covered Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, and five schools in the SW of NSW. The Marist Brothers have never opened a community in Tasmania.

In the Sixties huge changes were taking place in Australian society and schools were expanding rapidly. Rationalisation was carried out amongst the Sydney schools: some were swapped around among the various Religious Orders, some disappeared altogether, though their names and heritage were transferred to other schools: the High School (which had begun at St Patrick’s in 1875, transferred to St Mary’s Cathedral in 1887 and then to Darlinghurst in 1910) transferred to Canberra; St Patrick’s – the first foundation – transferred to Dundas, and St Benedict’s Broadway transferred its name to Auburn and Lidcombe (Lidcombe has since closed and Auburn become Trinity College). At this time there was an increase in the number of lay teachers in Marist Schools.

Since then changes have been rapid and continuous. In 1967, some 390 Marist Brothers of the Sydney Province ran, with the assistance of some lay teachers, 22 Secondary and 21 Primary departments; in 1977 there were 426 Brothers in the Sydney Province. By 1997 the picture had changed dramatically; 284 Brothers making up perhaps 5% of the teaching population of Marist educational establishments – not just schools. By reading the signs of the times and responding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, Religious Orders have come to understand that the school apostolate is a partnership of religious and lay teachers. One of the clearest and most powerful signs of this in the Sydney Province is the development of the Sharing Our Call programme of spiritual development for lay teachers run by a team of Brothers and lay people. By this means it is hoped that the Marist charism given to the Church by the Holy Spirit through the work of Marcellin Champagnat will continue well into the next millennium.

11 – The Nature of Marist Education (i)

Marcellin Champagnat, a man of great practical sense, did not invent any educational system: he simply adopted and adapted the educational techniques set out by John Baptist de la Salle one hundred years earlier. It was from personal experience that he developed his own particular idea of what instruction and education should be, and put it into practice: his abortive one day at school, his experience of some very poor teaching practice by the local curate during a catechism lesson, and his experience of giving the local children catechism lessons while he was at home on holiday from the seminary.

The style of Christian education offered in Marist educational establishments builds on those same foundations. The first and foremost feature of Marist education is that which reflects a family spirit. In other words, it is the quality of relationship that underpins the approach that parents make to their children, teachers make to their pupils, principals make to their staffs, and helpers make to all. Marist education aims to create a home, a place where all feel valued and appreciated for who they are, where the quality of relationships is warm and caring, supportive and realistic.

Marist educators try to be close to the children, to love them with all the conviction that made Champagnat say: “to educate children effectively we must love them and love them all equally.” That phrase might be carved on the palm of every Marist educator’s hand, bound on the brow of every person who values the Marist way, from Principal to canteen assistant, groundsman, student or accountant, social worker or counsellor, father, mother, grandfather and maiden aunt.

Marist educators value a spirit of hard work, enthusiasm and generosity. In Marist work places, simplicity is held in high regard: Marist educators strive hard to name it as it is, to keep it simple, not to hide behind the skirts of euphemistic language when there is need to face the truth. Marist education does not aim to fawn upon or keep up with the high fliers of this world.

Marcellin Champagnat believed that teaching secular subjects in the schools was as important as teaching children about God: to teach them about God may have been his primary and deep concern - “I cannot see children without wanting to tell them how much God loves them” he often said – but reading, writing and arithmetic gave the children the opportunity to take their deserved place in society with greater ease.

There is no doubt that one of the seminal experiences in Champagnat’s life and direction was his encounter with the dying Montagne boy. If there is another key feature that marks Champagnat’s approach to education, it is care of the least favoured - those most in need, whether suffering from material poverty, intellectual poverty, emotional poverty or spiritual poverty.

Marist education attempts to develop good Christians and good citizens - the two go hand in hand. The young person who consciously takes on board the Gospel values of justice, love and service, has to make a truer, more genuine contribution to our society than the young person committed to putting “me” first, taking advantage of other people, grasping rather than giving, abusing power rather than using it wisely in the service of one’s fellow citizens.

(To be continued)

12 – The Nature of Marist Education (ii)

Marist educational centres are dedicated to the formation of the whole person: an education in Christian faith and the Australian culture, in harmony with the society in which we live, but at the same time challenging that society where it falls short of the values preached by Jesus Christ. The Marist centre sees itself as counter-cultural, questioning and challenging and presenting an alternative to the secular and materialistic values of our society.

Champagnat said: “Young people need to be treated with kindness, charity and mercy; they need to be formed and instructed with perfect patience.” “These children have the same heavenly Father as yourselves and are called to the same happiness. They are your brothers and sisters, and you should treat them accordingly.” It is, above all, the motherly gentleness of Mary that inspired Champagnat’s approach to his life, and it was the way Mary led him to Jesus that gave meaning and direction to all that he taught and did. His aim to make the Gospel values of Jesus Christ - love, justice and service - alive in the hearts of the children, was what drew him to found an Institute under the banner of Mary, an Institute dedicated to the complete and gentle education of children.

On 1 January 1837, Champagnat writes to wish his Brothers a happy New Year. It is a letter full of joy and pride, partly because he had just received a letter from Brother Marie-Nizier, who was a companion of Saint Peter Chanel on that missionary journey that led to the latter’s martyrdom (1841), and Champagnat wants to share the letter with his Brothers. Champagnat is also pleased with the progress of the Order and wants to share that with his Brothers, too.

He writes with great warmth: “Carissimi [such a strong and affectionate word!]. My beloved, my very dear brothers, let us love one another. At the beginning of this year I could not find words more suited to my tastes and affections; if I ask my heart, the pain which I feel at the least of your embarrassments, your problems, your setbacks which distress me, twenty years of solicitude, they all tell me I can confidently speak to you the words with which the beloved disciple began all his letters: let us love one another, because love comes from God. I do not ask for you an abundance of material goods, honours, pleasures which the heart never tastes. I ask instead the graces and blessings of God upon you and that He teach you the way to good living.” He goes on to quote Brother Marie-Nizier’s letter in which he tells of the joy that he experiences as he sets out for the missions of Oceania; Champagnat then shares the news that the Order is increasing with the intake of new members.

There is much in these words that characterises that form of education we know as Marist. Marist education? It is so distinctive, its qualities are often intangible, but surely some of its components must include the following: Christ at the centre, family spirit, zeal and love for the work in hand, simplicity, the spiritual formation of the children, fondness for the child most in need, education of the whole person - faith, culture and life in harmony; being “present” to the children, good example, daring, audaciousness, youthful optimism, working in the way of Mary: nurturing, mothering, listening, doing good quietly, walking gently with people, being prepared to get our hands dirty and our feet dusty. A challenging set of values for all.

13 – Champagnat and Mary: Mary Our Good Mother – Model for Marcellin

Marist – of Mary. The Little Brothers of Mary, the Marist Brothers of the Schools. “Mary, Our Good Mother, you are the superior and guardian of this venture. You have gathered us under your banner to promote the glory of your Divine Son. It is your work that we do. If you do not come to our aid we shall fail and like a lamp without oil become extinguished. But if this work should perish, it is not our work that fails but yours, for you have done everything for us.” All of this is so Marcellin. But Marcellin never invokes Mary for her sake alone: if Mary is not linked closely to Jesus, she has no meaning – it is she who leads us to Jesus by word and by example. “Do whatever he tells you”, she said to the waiter at the wedding feast at Cana – and to us. And Jesus, in his dying words, says to his Beloved Disciple and to us, “Behold, your mother.”

We who are disciples of Marcellin, whether we teach or administer, count money or give counsel, run a printing room or a lawn mower, whether we are pupils or patrons, mothers and carers or fathers and brothers, all of us in Marist works are invited to follow Marcellin in the way of Mary: doing good quietly, active and dynamic, but doing our work in an unassuming manner, so that to God alone goes the glory.

For Marcellin, Mary is best understood as Mother – the mother of Jesus and the mother of us. We are children of Mary, she is Our Good Mother, she is Our Common Mother. But it is as Mary, Our Good Mother, that we have come to understand her role today. The phrase has gained currency amongst us over the last few years, adding to some of the beautiful ways we have to refer to her: Our Blessed Lady, Mary Help of Christians, Mother of Mercy, Mother of God, Mother of the Word Incarnate.

And why Our Good Mother? Because “our” expresses the fact that we are part of her family, that we have brothers and sisters who are Mary’s children, that Jesus above all is our brother, and that we are indeed brothers and sisters to each other in this family. And it is the family spirit that is so strongly characteristic of the Marist movement: we want it to pervade our schools and our work places and our homes.

So often Champagnat uses phrases like: “I leave you in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Our Good Mother”, “take a little rest under the care of Mary, Our Gentle Mother”, “may Mary, Our Good Mother, take care of you”.

When Marcellin died, his successor, Brother FranÁois, wrote to the Brothers – and down the years to all of us who are Marist people – “It is up to us now to set down and follow carefully his final instructions, to bring him to life again in each one of us by imitating the virtues we admired in him, and draw closer than ever around Our Good and Loving Mother.” He continues: “”He will be among us in spirit, and, we dare hope, through the effectiveness of his influence with Our Good and Common Mother.” That is Champagnat’s legacy to us. While ever we choose to live and work by the example of Mary in our Marist apostolate, following Jesus in the way Mary did, the charism of Saint Marcellin Champagnat – that gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church – will never “like a lamp without oil, become extinguished.”

14 –The Canonisation as an Ongoing Call

When it was announced that Marcellin Champagnat would be canonised on Sunday 18 April, the Superiors General of the Marist Brothers and the Marist Fathers (the Society of Mary) – Brother Benito Arbues and Father Joaquin Fernandez – wrote to the two Congregations. In their joint letter they expressed their great joy at this wonderful event and invited the whole Marist Family to share in that joy.

Marcellin Champagnat, they wrote, is a gift of the Holy Spirit to the whole Church and a great gift to the world. Certainly he belongs to the spiritual heritage of those who profess vows as Marists: the Brothers see him as father and founder, the Fathers see him as co-founder and one who nurtured their ideals and shared their spirit from the earliest days, and the Sisters, both Marist and Marist Missionaries, see him as an expression and embodiment of the virtues and values which they hold as their own. However, he is not the exclusive possession of these particular groups.

Marcellin Champagnat also belongs to the Marist laity: educators, supporters, families, students, ex-students, co-workers in so many fields: those who live and nourish themselves from the same spiritual fountain at which he drank, those who welcome and share the mission which Champagnat received and enrich their lives through it, those who live in communion with the Brothers, Sisters and Fathers and share the spirituality that unites the four Congregations.

Champagnat is a model for all the People of God, and by proclaiming him a saint the Church puts him forward not only as model but also as intercessor for all those who come beneath the Marist umbrella. In a special way he is model and inspiration for all those who dedicate their lives to the education of children and young people, especially those who suffer deeply from situations of injustice and marginalisation in our world.

At the heart of this Marist venture is Jesus Christ, the One who is at the heart of all Christian endeavour: it is to make Jesus Christ known and loved that Marist people hold as their whole aim and ambition. While this is the aim of all Christians, for Marists these hopes and aspirations are carried out in the manner of Mary, model disciple and Good Mother. Mary never stands alone: she is always in relationship – to Jesus, to the Church, to the contemporary world. Marist followers aim to make the Church visible in places where it is not seen and to move on once their work is done – in the meantime Marist work involves the direct proclamation of the word of God to young people, especially the least favoured. It cannot be said too often or too strongly that Jesus Christ is the end point of all our endeavours – to live his life, to love his values, to follow him to the Father; in a word, to become other Christs.

The canonisation of Marcellin Champagnat as a saint for the Universal Church, and model for all those who would take the education of youth as the means by which they answer the call to personal holiness which God makes to all baptised Christians, is an occasion for us to renew our Baptismal vows and that spirit of commitment which moved us in the first place to find our spiritual home in the house of Mary, the Mother of the Word Incarnate and our Good Mother too.