18 April Canonisation of St Marcellin Champagnat SM (1999)

29 April Approval of the Society of Mary (1838)

The original vision of the Society of Mary was four branches - priests, sisters, brothers and lay people. However, during the negotiations with Rome regarding the recognition of the Society, Rome approved only the priest’s branch and on the condition that they agreed to take on the Vicariate of Oceania with Pompallier as the Vicar Apostolic. The Vicariate included New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Futuna and Wallis. The Society was approved on 29 April 1838. Things moved rapidly for by the end of the year the Bishop, four priests and three brothers departed for the missions.

John Paul II had this to say in his homily at the canonisation in 1999:

“St Marcellin announced the Gospel with a burning heart. He was sensitive to the spiritual and educational needs of his time, especially to religious ignorance and the situations of abandonment that particularly lived the youth. His pastoral sense is exemplary for priests: called to proclaim the good news, they must also be true educators for the young, who seek a meaning to their existence, accompanying each one in his way and explaining the Scriptures. Fr Champagnat is also a model for parents and educators: he helps them to contemplate young people with hope and to love them with a total love, which favours a true human, moral and spiritual formation.

Marcellin Champagnat also invites us to be missionaries, to make known and to make love to Jesus Christ, as did the Marist Brothers even in Asia and Oceania. With Mary as guide and Mother, the Christian is a missionary and a servant of [people]. Let us ask the Lord for a heart as ardent as that of Marcellin Champagnat, to recognize him and be his witnesses.”

Monthly Reflection: April 2017