Marcellin Champagnat by Samantha Lugo

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Marcellin Champagnat

Published on Nov 20, 2015

Marcellin Champagnat

Because of the French Revolution, he didn't attend school until age 11.
Only attended one day of school because he saw his teacher hit another student for answering a question directed towards Marcellin.
Didn't attend school until he joined the seminary at age 16.

When many priests were killed in the revolution, a remaining priest went door to door recruiting new potential priests.
Marcellin accepted the offer but since he was older than his other classmates and didn't have as much education as them, he failed his first year and was sent home.
His second year of the seminary, he got in trouble for drinking and was kicked out of the seminary. After pleading to come back, the seminary accepted.
Through hard work and the support from his mother, Marcellin was ordained.

After being ordained, Marcellin was assigned pastor in La Valla where he encountered a dying 16 year old who had little knowledge of the Catholic religion.
Marcellin then asked two men, Jean-Marie Granjon and Jean-Baptiste Audras to join him. Others soon joined and this started The Marist Brothers.
Marcellin taught the young brothers by spreading the gospel before sending them to remote villages where they passed on the gospel, as well as reading and writing.
Marcellin opened the first Marist school in 1818.

Marcellin set out to see a sick JeanBaptiste with Brother Stanislaus.
On the way back, a snow blizzard occurred. Marcellin and JeanBaptiste were stuck, lost, and out of energy.
The two turned to Mary and prayed the Memorare.
In a short while, they saw a lit lantern in the distance. The light came from a nearby farmer who traveled out of his route to his barn. The farmer let the two seek refuge in his house.
For the rest of his life, Marcellin considered this happening as an act of providence.

3 months after Marcellin was ordained, he was sent to the Montagne home where a dying 16 year old named JeanBaptiste lived.
Marcellin soon realized that JeanBaptiste had little religious education.
Since Marcellin began with little education of religion and with his encounter with JeanBaptiste, he thought of the idea of The Marist Brothers, a school where the love of Jesus and Mary was made known.