A Short Life of Jean-Claude Colin Marist Founder

Jean-Claude Colins life was devoted entirely to God. Born in 1790, in a small French village, he was introduced at the Major Seminary of Lyons to the project of the Society of Mary, including sisters, brothers, and lay people, as well as priests. After years in parish ministry, mission preaching, and education, he reluctantly accepted the call of his colleagues to take charge of the Society and gained approval by Rome for the priests branch in 1836. By the time he resigned as Superior General in 1854, he had established the Society of Mary firmly in France, especially in the field of education, and sent fifteen expeditions of Marist priests and brothers to the southwest Pacific, where they planted the Catholic Church in New Zealand, Wallis and Futuna, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, and New Caledonia. He also wrote the Societys Constitutions and left a rich spiritual teaching. His Marian spirit of humility and self-effacement speaks powerfully and urgently to the Church today.