MARCELLIN CHAMPAGNAT

BIRTH

• Marcellin Champagnat was born on May 20, 1789
• He was born in Saint Etienne, France.
• He was the ninth born out of ten children in his family.
• Marcellin was the son of French peasants.

ATTENDING SCHOOL

• He started going to school at the age of 11.
• One of the students in his class got an answer wrong, and then the teacher beat him.
• He decided that he did not like so he wasn't coming back.

JOINING THE SEMINARY

• Marcellin went to the minor seminary in Verrieres.
• He started in the year of 1805 amd ended in 1816.
• Champagnat decided that he wanted to become a priest at the age of 15.
• He was ordained on July 22, 1816

MARIST BROTHERS

• In January 1817, he recruited two men.
• Their names were Jean-Marie Granjon and Jean-Baptiste Audras.
• They all moved into their first home in La Valla in January 1817.
• They opened the first Marist school in 1818.
• Marcellin made the fees so most of the farm families could afford.

MEMORARE IN THE SNOW

• One day Marcellin heard that his 16 year old brother was very ill.
• Him and Brother Stanislaus set out on foot to go see him.
• On the way home a blizzard popped up and they got caught in it.
• They soon realized that they could die and Stanislaus already could not walk anymore.
• They both prayed the memorare and they saw a lantern so they ran towards it and took shelter in a farm house.

MONTANGE EXPERIENCE

• It was late October 1817 when Marcellin visited a young boy.
• His name was Jean Baptiste Montange and he was 17 years old.
• He was dying and he never learned anything from the catholic faith.
• Marcellin told the boy he would be back to teach him about faith but when he did, the boy had died.
• The boy showed him that this was him at 17 and their is more people out there like that.

DEATH

• Marcellin Champagnat died on July 6, 1840.
• He was only at the age of 51 so he did not live that long of a life.

CANNONIZATION

• On April 18, 1999 he was cannonized a saint.
• He was cannonized by Pope John Paul II and declared blessed by Pope Pius XII.
• The letter "M" is Champagnats cannonization symbol.
• It stands for 4 things which are: Mary, Marcellin, Marist and Mission.