How to become a Marist Brother?
If you want to be a Religious Brother following the charism of St Marcellin Champagnat, come and join us!
Who to contact?
If you are interested, you are invited to contact the community of brothers in your area. The Marist Brothers are present in 79 countries and are organised in 25 Administrative Units. You can write to this address ([email protected]) and you will be helped in the first steps of this journey.
What is the process of becoming a Marist Brother?
The vocational journey of a candidate for Marist religious life involves many meaningful experiences over approximately seven years. During this period, the Institute offers human, Christian, philosophical and theological formation, as well as ministry preparation. The general outlines of formation, given below, are described in the Constitutions and Statutes of the Institute of the Marist Brothers (numbers 66-76). Each Marist Province personalises the vocational journey according to its particular context.
Pre-Novitiate, the first stage
This stage has two phases, aspirancy and postulancy. In this stage, the candidate for Marist religious life undertakes a process leading him:
- to know and understand himself better and to deepen his experience of human, Christian and Marist life;
- to learn to listen attentively to the Spirit at work in his life, and to accept and transcend himself in a journey of Gospel conversion
- with his formator, to discern his motivations, and ascertain whether he has the qualities and dispositions needed to become a Marist Brother.
During the pre-novitiate, the candidate negotiates a gradual transition from his previous lifestyle and relationships to experiment living in a Marist community and learn what it means for him to have a Marist identity. This stage ends with a period of postulancy which lasts at least six months.
Towards the end of the postulancy, the candidate writes to the Provincial, requesting entry to the novitiate. The formation personnel supplement this with a report on the suitability of the postulant. Once a favourable reply has been received from the Provincial, the postulant can move to the next stage of his formation.
Novitiate
The Marist novitiate is where life in the Institute begins. Its purpose is to accompany the novice as he discerns his call to follow Christ in the way of Mary as a Marist Brother, at the service of our mission as a global Institute. The novitiate is made under the direction the Novice Master. It lasts at least eighteen months or, at the most, two years. For it to be valid, twelve consecutive months are to be spent in the novitiate community. Towards the end of the novitiate, the novice writes to the Provincial asking to be admitted to temporary profession, which marks the end of the novitiate.
Post-Novitiate
Marist post-novitiate formation for a temporary professed brother takes place in a formative community. The purpose of this stage is for him to continue to deepen the meaning of his religious consecration, taking into account the reality of his own personality, his life situation, and the call to be globally available for mission.
Post-novitiate formation occurs in two phases:
- Preparation for mission in a formative community specifically constituted for this purpose, under the direction of a brother appointed by the Provincial;
- Apostolic apprenticeship, lived in an apostolic community.
This stage concludes with the brother making his perpetual profession.
