St. Marcellin Champagnat

• In 1789, France was rocked by the Revolution. In same year, a child was born who was to start another kind of revolution named St. Marcellin Champagnat.
• St. Marcellin Champagnat's Father?

  Jean Baptiste Champagnat - a farmer who lived in a little village (Marlhes, Le Rosey) in the south of France
• St. Marcellin Champagnat's mother?

  Marie Chirat
• St. Marcellin Champagnat was the ninth of his parents children.
• The day after he was born, he was brought to the little parish church in Marlhes, a couple of miles from their home, and there baptized with the names Joseph Benedict Marcellin. The last name was the one by which he was to be known throughout his life.
• A great influencer was his aunt Louise, who was a nun, but had been forced to leave her convent when it was burned down by the revolutionaries, and has come to live with the Champagnat family.
• Marcellin's father was in favor of the ideals of the Revolution, but not of the way they were put into practice. He became Commander of the local National Guard, and he used his position to save many priests from capture and death.
• Like his brothers and sisters, Marcellin grew up looking after his father's flocks and helping on the farm (in short, shepherd). The skills he learned at this time were to stand him in good stead (role) in later life.
• His father sent him to school, but the schoolmaster was a very badtempered man, who struck the children on the least excuse. Marcellin refused to go to school, and later, laid down strict rules for his Brothers about punishment.
• When he was 16, a priest came looking for boys to join the priesthood, and Marcellin decided to follow his call. His schooling had not been the best, but he got down to his studies, although with great difficulty. However, he worked hard, and succeeded.
• He finally reached the standard for entrance to the Junior Seminary, sold off his lambs to help with the expenses of new clothes, etc, and left home. Though he did not know it, both his father and his mother were to die before he became a priest.
• Marcellin and a few friends made a name for themselves as the "Happy Gang" (seen in taverns and local pubs), who were always getting into trouble. However, the death of his best friend (Dennis Duplay) and then of his mother mad him more serious, and he began to work in earnest.
• He eventually became a prefect in the school, and had a room of his own. He took advantage of this to work at his studies during night, and succeeded in reaching the required standard.
• Finally, the great day came, and he was ordained priest on July 22, 1816. The next day, with another seven new priest and four deacons, he went to the church of Our Lady of Fourvieres, where they promised to work towards founding a Society of Mary.
• He was appointed as curate to a little mountain parish called Lavalla, where he soon became well-liked by everyone. The parish priest old and ill, and most of the work fell to Marcellin. He said later, "Every road here was drenched with my sweat!"
• He had always insisted on the need for Brothers to teach the children. Now he was called to a dying boy, and found he had never even heard of God! This decided him. We would found a group of Brothers to work in schools in the country areas.
• He spoke to Jean Marie Granjon (the first brother), who had gone with him to see the Montagne Boy, and asked if he would like to become a Brother. The young man agreed, and was joined by another, Jean Baptiste Audras (the second brother). So, on January 2, 1817, the Marist Brothers began!
• Schools were closed for a long time in summer, so to keep his young men occupied and to help with the expenses of the house, Marcellin taught them to make nails, which they sold to the local craftsmen.
• By 1824, the numbers were too big for the house in Lavalla and Marcellin bought a property further down the valley, where he built Notre Dame de l'Hermitage, which is still in constant use, and where he is buried.