Hail, St. Marcellin Champagnat, founder of the Marist brothers

Marist brother making Jesus known and loved in Briarwood, Queens, circa 1967 AD

Today is the feast of St. Marcellin Champagnat (1789 AD - 1840 AD), founder of the Institute of the Little Brothers of Mary, known as the Marist Brothers.  Marcellin was the ninth child born to very religious parents in Marlhes, a town in the mountains of central France.   When Marcellin was 14, a priest passing through his village helped Marcellin recognize his vocation to the priesthood.   Marcellin, though illiterate and uneducated, used money earned from herding sheep to enter the minor seminary in Verrieres in 1805.   There he endured a massive struggle just to avoid flunking out immediately.  Indeed, after his first year in Verrieres Marcellin was expelled for academic failure, but his mother, his parish priest and the superior of the seminary succeeded in getting Marcellin re-admitted.

At the major seminary in Lyons, Marcellin was part of a remarkable class which included Jean-Marie Vianney, who would later serve as the Cure  of Ars, and who was canonized in 1925.  The class also included Jean-Claude Colin, who would found the Marist Fathers.   Knowing from his own experience of the desperate need among children in the French countryside for education, and particularly spiritual education, Marcellin felt a strong desire to create a society of brothers for the Christian education of young people.   As Marcellin often would say, "I cannot see a child without wanting to tell him how much Jesus loves him." Less than six months after his ordination, Marcellin had already gathered his first two disciples.   Despite much adversity the Marists grew rapidly, and Pope Pius IX approved the Institute of the Marist Brothers in 1863.  At their most numerous, there were 10,000 Marist Brothers in the world; today there are 5,000 brothers working in 74 countries.

The mission of the Marist Brothers is "To make Jesus Christ known and loved." 

The Immaculate Conception

                                                      "Immaculate Conception" by Velazquez

The Church traditionally dedicates the month of December to the Immaculate Conception.   Many confuse this dogma with the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus.  The virgin birth of Jesus is self-explanatory.  Here is the Catholic Encyclopedia's description of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception:

"In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin." 

Though defined only in 1854, the Immaculate Conception was long held by the Church to be among the truths revealed by God.  The feast itself, which is celebrated on December 8, appears to have arisen in eastern monasteries as long ago as the seventh century.  In 1846, a few years before the promulgation of  Ineffabilis Deus,  the first Council of Baltimore decreed that Mary in her Immaculate Conception would be the principal Patron of the United States.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!"

Papal Teaching For the Day

Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX reigned longer than any other pope (1846 - 1878;  31 years & 236 days).   He also issued a record number of encyclicals (38) and presided over the First Vatican Council.  Pope Pius IX was the last pope to rule the Papal States, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

From Pope Pius IX's encyclical "Ubi Primum," defining the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (full text here):

And likewise in our own day, Mary, with the ever merciful affection so characteristic of her maternal heart, wishes, through her efficacious intercession with God, to deliver her children from the sad and grief-laden troubles, from the tribulations, the anxiety, the difficulties, and the punishments of God's anger which afflict the world because of the sins of men. Wishing to restrain and to dispel the violent hurricane of evils which, as We lament from the bottom of Our heart, are everywhere afflicting the Church, Mary desires to transform Our sadness into joy. The foundation of all Our confidence, as you know well, Venerable Brethren, is found in the Blessed Virgin Mary. For, God has committed to Mary the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is His will, that we obtain everything through Mary.