Marist Institute

The Institute was created on January 2nd, 1817, when Marcellin Champagnat founded in La Valla, France, the lay religious Institute, or religious Institute of Brothers, under the name of Little Brothers of Mary. He saw it as forming a branch of the Society of Mary. In 1863 the Holy See approved us as an autonomous Institute of pontifical right. While respecting our original name, it gave us the title of Marist Brothers of the Schools (F.M.S.- Fratres Maristae a Scholis).
Marist brothers are people consecrated to God, who follow Jesus in the style of Mary, who live in community and are especially dedicated to the education of children and the neediest youth. Present in 79 countries, the brothers share their mission with thousands of laity who also embrace the Champagnat charism.

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  • 2.507 (Dec. 2022) BROTHERS
  • 79 COUNTRIES
  • 05 CONTINENTS
  • 7200 LAY PEOPLE
  • 654000 CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

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Vision 2025

The Marist journey from our foundation in La Valla (1817) to the opening of the house of Our Lady of L’Hermitage (1825) sheds light on our journey for these next eight years (2017-2025).
As Marists of Champagnat, we are a global charismatic family, living an integrated spirituality and are passionately committed to an innovative mission without borders, at the service of children and young people, especially the most vulnerable and excluded.
The XXII General Chapter of the Marist Brothers, held in Colombia in 2017, proposed to Champagnat Marists to “walk together as a global family”, defining five appeals to guide the Marists’ life and mission until 2025.

As a global charismatic family, a beacon of hope in this turbulent world

Jesus, today you continue to call us to relate to others in a fundamentally new way (Mk 3, 20-31, 31-35), to listen to your Word and put it into practice, with urgency and without excluding anyone.
You are pressuring us to set out immediately on pathways that lead to the future: that is, as Marists of Champagnat, to:

  • form homes that are a light on the hill for those around, giving ourselves whole-heartedly to creating a family style of life that is open to all.
  • promote and nourish Marist life in all its diversity, working towards our deeply-felt desire to act as “one global body”* .
  • be open, in all simplicity, to make ourselves available to go beyond geographic or provincial boundaries.
  • rediscover, as Brothers, the original passion that inspired us to be Marists.
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    * During the Chapter repeated use was made of the expression global body as a synonym of global family. That is to say, all Marists of Champagnat belong to a single body or a single charismatic family, and we are being called to act as such.

To be the face and hands of your tender mercy

The promise of your Spirit in our lives (Lk 1, 35) urges us to be prophets of mercy and of being brothers and sisters to all.
From this call, we hear you inviting us to:

  • get in touch with our inner selves to be able to discover You as a God of love who is revealed in the ordinary events of our lives.
  • cultivate a spirituality of the heart, that fills us with joy and makes us inclusive.
  • revive the founding spirit of La Valla in our daily lives.
  • live life to the full as your witnesses in a fragmented world.

Inspire our creativity to be bridge-builders

Like Mary at Cana (Jn 2, 3), we feel challenged by the needs of the world around us. 
Inspired by Mary, we feel called to:

  • develop a good understanding of our ever-changing world, and face current challenges, without falling into the temptation of “answering questions that no one is asking anymore”. (Pope Francis in Medellin, September 9, 2017)
  • be a prophetic reminder of the common dignity and fundamental equality of the entire People of God.
  • move away from a culture shaped by “ego-s” and adopt that of the “eco-s” (ecology, ecosystems, an economy of solidarity, …) to reduce the scandal of indifference and inequality.
  • be agents of change, bridge-builders, messengers of peace, transforming the lives of young people through an education that integrates awakening faith and living by Gospel values.

To journey with children and young people living on the margins of life

We search for you, Jesus, like Mary, in the caravans of life, in the tumult of our cities (Lk 2, 41-49), and in the masses of displaced people who are seeking a better future for their children.
This is a call that urges us to:

  • open the eyes of our heart and hear the cries of of children and young people, especially the voiceless and homeless.
  • be creative in giving resolute responses to their needs.
  • empower those who have no voice, avoiding any paternalism.
  • be present in more significant ways among the children and young people on the margins of the world.

To respond boldly to emerging needs

Jesus, you went through life doing good and yet many of your contemporaries interpreted your actions narrowly, simply because you were a Galilean, a carpenter, and the son of Mary (Mk 6, 2-3).

Today, too, you continue to challenge us to:

  • abandon old paradigms and re-imagine ways of helping people see the love of God in today’s world.
  • undergo a change of heart and be flexible in our structures, with all the risks entailed, so as to move to the peripheries in defence of the poorest and most vulnerable.
  • make a firm commitment to promote and defend the Rights of the Child.
  • awaken in ourselves and those around us an ecological awareness that engages us in caring for “our common home”* .
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    * In all the text of the XXII General Chapter, where we speak of our common home we are referring to our Sister, Mother Earth (St Francis), as Pope Francis did in his Encyclical Laudato Si’ on the care for our common home.