Marcellin Champagnat was born in 1789 in France and grew up on a farm, helping with the family's flock of sheep. He felt called to the priesthood and struggled with his studies but persevered. In 1817, he founded the Marist Brothers with two other men to educate children in rural areas. The order grew rapidly under his leadership. He insisted the Brothers focus on the children's spiritual and moral education in addition to academics. Marcellin experienced many hardships but always relied on his deep devotion to the Virgin Mary. He died in 1840 after dedicating his life to the children and Brothers. He was beatified in 1955 and canonized in 1999.

1. Founder of the Marist Brothers
1789 1840

2. 1789
 In 1789, France was
rocked by the Revolution.
In that same year, a child
was born who was to start
another kind of
revolution. He was the
son of Jean Baptiste
Champagnat, a farmer
who lived in a little village
in the south of France,
and his wife, Marie Chirat.
The boy was the ninth of
their ten children.

3. Baptism
 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.

4. Home Life
A great influence in his life
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 had
come to live with the
Champagnat family

5. Marcellin’s father
 Marcellin’s father was in
favour 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 used his
position to save many
priests from capture and
death.

6. What will I be?
 Like his brothers and
sisters, Marcellin grew
up looking after his
father’s flocks and
helping on the farm.
The skills he learned at
this time were to stand
him in good stead in
later life.

7. Schooldays
 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
back to school, and
later, laid down strict
rules for his Brothers
about punishment.

8. The Call
 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.

9. Leaving Home
 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.

10. Happy Gang
 Marcellin and a few
friends made a name for
themselves as the
“Happy Gang”, who
were always getting
into trouble. However,
the death of his best
friend and then of his
mother mad him more
serious, and he began to
work in earnest.

11. Studies
 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 the night, and
succeeded in reaching
the required standard.

12. Ordination
 Finally the great day
came, and he was
ordained priest on July
2nd
, 1816. The next day,
with another seven new
priest and four deacons,
he went to the church of
Our Lady of Fourvières,
where they promised to
work towards founding
a Society of Mary.

13. New Curate
 He was appointed as
curate to a little
mountain parish called
Lavalla, where he soon
became well-liked by
everyone. The parish
priest was old and ill,
and most of the work
fell to Marcellin. He said
later, “Every road here
was drenched with my
sweat!”

14. The Montagne Boy
 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.

15. The First Brothers
 He spoke to Jean Marie
Granjon, who had gone
with him to see the
Montagne boy, ans
asked him if he would
like to become a
Brother. The young
man agreed, and was
joined by another, Jean
Baptiste Audras. So, on
January 2nd
, 1817, the
Marist Brothers began!

16. Nailmaking
 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.

17. Notre Dame de l’Hermitage
 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.

18. Memorare in the Snow
 One day he had been on
a sick call with one of
the Brothers, and they
were caught in a
snowstorm. Things got
worse, and Marcellin
prayed to Our Lady to
help them. Just then
they saw a light come
out from a house, and
went towards it. They
were saved!

19. With his Brothers
 By now Marcellin had
about 50 Brothers, and
the Archbishop gave
him permission to stop
his parish work to be
with his Brothers. He
was now able to visit all
the schools where they
taught and to
encourage them in their
work

20. Schools
 Requests were coming
in for Brothers to teach
in many of the small
towns and villages in
the area, and he tried to
grant them all. He
insisted that there
should always be at
least three Brothers in a
school, and he spent
most of his time going
round to make sure that
all was well.

21. Hail, Holy Queen
 In 1830, France had
another revolution and
some of the Brothers
wanted to go into
hiding. But Marcellin
told the Brothers that
Our Lady would protect
them, and to ask her
help, he began the
practice of starting and
ending each day with
the Hail, Holy Queen, a
practice still carried on.

22. Death
 Marcellin’s health was
now giving way to the
pressure of his work,
and in 1840 he told the
Brothers to elect a new
Superior. On May 3rd
he
said his last Mass, and a
month later, on June 6th
,
as the Brothers were
singing the Hail, Holy
Queen at their Morning
Prayer, he went to his
reward.

23. Canonization
 Marcellin’s life was ended
but his work was not, and
his Brothers spread all
over the world.
 On 29th
May 1955, Pius XII
beatified him, and finally
on 18th April 1999, John
Paul II proclaomed him
 Saint Marcellin,
Founder of the
Marist Brothers

24. Mary – Marist – Mission
encircling the globe