3 months after his ordination, Marcellin was called to a house where 16 year old Jean-Baptiste Montagne was sick and dying. As Marcellin prepared to hear the confessions of Jean-Baptiste, he realized that the young man had had hardly any religious or academic education. It then occurred to him that Jean-Baptiste was one of many young victims suffering from the lack of education during and after the French Revolution.
Marcellin had not been educated when he was young, and when he had been it had been difficult. His encounter with Jean-Baptiste convinced him to do something about the illiteracy and spiritual poverty of the young people in France.
Soon after, he started up 'The Marist Brothers of the Schools.' It was also known as the little brothers of Mary. Through their lives and service, the love of Jesus and Mary helped them to support where children were uneducated.
Marcellin often proclaimed “This is all God's work. This is all Mary's work.” That remains true in the spirit of today's Marist Brothers as they respond in fresh, bold, creative ways to meet the needs of youth.
From 1805 go 1814, Marcellin started training to become a priest as Verrieres. At one time, he was tempted to leave religious life, but conquered it. He then attended major training in Lyon for his spiritual and theological formation as a priest.
Here the idea for the Society of Mary was made and promoted by a group of seminarians, including Marcellin. From the beginning, he announced the organisation should include teaching brothers to work in isolated areas with uneducated children without the opportunity to learn about Jesus.
After his ordination as a priest on July 2nd 1816, Marcellin's first place was at La Valla-en-Gier as parish priest. There he was distressed that the people in the village were so isolated and cut off they hardly knew anything about the rest of the world. There was also little happening to teach children about the Catholic faith. The teachers were poorly paid and not respected.
Marcellin Champagnat was born in Rozet, a village near St. Etienne, France, on May 20, 1789. He was the founder of the Marist brothers, a religious group of men in the roman catholic church dedicated to education.
Marcellin was born the ninth of ten children, in Le Rosey, a small village in the Rhone-Alpes region. He spent his childhood there, where he witnessed the commotion of the French revolution and the atrocities of civil war.
Marcellin's character was influenced by 3 people in his family. His father was a hard working, intelligent man, contributed to his arrangement as a citizen. His aunt who was A Sister of St Joseph and his mother both served as models and guides to strengthen him as a believer and to improve his faith.
Where Marcellin lived and worked, in the area of Marlhes had been badly affected by the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, and the local community was uneducated and poor.
