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Founders / History
A New Vision of Church
Sometimes when the wind changes
direction, fire rises more fiercely from ashes than from its initial kindling.
The Church of France lay dismembered and dispirited in the ashes of the French
Revolution. But a fire would arise in the Church of France, a fire called the
Family of Mary, kindled by a new wind and a new direction: the vision and
energies of William Joseph Chaminade, Marie Therese de Lamourous, and Adele de
Batz de Trenquelleon. The Church of France would arise from its ashes, and a new
vision of Church would sweep southern France: the multiplication of communities
of faith.
All true Christian inspiration calls a new historical people to understand the
Gospel for their time and their place. Such was the inspiration of the Family of
Mary. Chaminade, de Lamourous, and de Trenquelleon called each baptized person
to realize that their baptism made them apostles. As such they were to bring the
Gospel to each person they met. They were not to do this alone, but to go forth
from a community, a community of prayer and a community of mission. And as the
first Christian community gathered around the person of Mary, mother of Jesus,
it would be to hear that Chaminade and de Trenquelleon would confide the
formation and nurturing of these communities of faith. As Mary had formed Jesus,
she would now form new apostles to live the Gospel in a new age.
Largely unaware of each other's work at the beginning, these Founders worked at
forming communities with this fundamental inspiration. Working independently and
then joining forces they formed communities called sodalities. These communities
included both sexes, married and single persons, religious, diocesan clergy, and
all classes of people. These were the faith communities that would become the
rebuilding of the French church.
Eventually some
Sodality members formed the nucleus of two religious congregations: for women,
the Daughters of Mary Immaculate
(founded by Adele de Batz de Trenquelleon in collaboration with Father
Chaminade in 1816) and for men, the Society of Mary (founded in 1817). Father
Chaminade saw in these foundations "a person who would never die" to maintain,
inspire, and extend the network of communities designated by the name Marianist
Family.
The Society of Mary was established in the United States in 1849 in Dayton,
Ohio.
The Marianist
Sisters were established in 1949 in Somerset, Texas.
But who were these remarkable founders? One a diocesan priest, and two women:
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