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Marist Spirituality The beginnings of the Society of Mary
The Society of Mary began in the Chapel of Our Lady at Fourvière in Lyon, on 23 July 1816 where twelve seminarians, aged between 20 and 34, climbed the steep steps to the top of the Fourvière hill, and dedicated themselves to Mary. They promised to begin a new religious order in the Church; a group called "Mary-ists" whose work in the Church would resemble that of the Jesuits, but whose approach or style would be unlike anything that existed in the Church at that time.
Marists commit themselves "to thinking as Mary, judging as Mary, feeling and acting as Mary" in all things. No mean feat, and something we can never fully hope to achieve. However Mary has entrusted each Marist with her name and such is this relationship Marists strive to be as much like Mary as is humanly possible.
Marist relationship with the Church
Given this image, Marists are challenged to develop the Church in places where it does not exist and to renew the Church in places where it needs help to grow.
Marist relationship with the World  Marist spirituality prompts Marists to be people in our world and conscious of the needs of the time. The Society of Mary is an international congregation, ready to go anywhere and do anything that will build up the Church in the culture of these times but in an unobtrusive, collaborative way.
John-Claude Colin, a reluctant leader developed the vision of the Society of Mary.
Mary in modern Catholic thought Considering how important Mary is in Christian history, the New Testament says little about her. Mary is the first disciple, and to know Mary is to know Jesus, to understand Mary is to understand Jesus. These resources seek to aid our knowledge and understanding of Mary and in so doing aid our understanding of ourselves, called to full life as fellow disciples of Jesus. |
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The image of Mary involved in the early Church with Jesus' disciples and apostles, Mary in the infant church as it was being founded is a significant spiritual image for Marists. As well as spiritually strong it is also, wonderfully pastoral in nature.
Strongly influenced by the French Revolution - a time of turmoil and a split between the Church and French Society and his father going into hiding in an attempt to avoid arrest for being loyal to Rome, Jean-Claude Colin realised that the people had great needs. He believed that the best way to help them was to be a source of compassion, a gentle presence, hidden in the world but not hidden from the world, just as Mary had been for the early church. 