Letters of Marcellin – 294

Marcellin Champagnat

1839-11-11

It will be recalled (L. 76) that in 1836-1837 the situation of the brothers in Sorbiers was such that they could no longer survive there and that they had to be withdrawn at vacation time in 1837. On 6th November 1839, the town council, considering that the town had no town teacher, that there were many young people in the town with no education, and that to deal effectively with them it was preferable to have brothers, expresses a unanimous desire to have the Marist Brothers return (AFM, 660 Sorbiers 15). It is evidently in the wake of this decision that the parish priest writes to Fr. Champagnat. The latter, from the tone of his reply, seems to have been expecting it for quite a while. None the less, for reasons of which we are ignorant, the project will not be carried out until November 1844.

Father,

I am quickly answering your request on behalf of the parish of Sorbiers. As we are very interested in obliging you, we will try, even though all our assignments have been made, to find you two brothers.

Our conditions will not be special for the town of Sorbiers. You can assure yourself from the prospectus which I am enclosing with this letter, that we are asking only what we are given everywhere else:
1º 500 francs for furnishings for each brother, 1000 francs for two;
2º An annual salary of 1000 francs agreed to and guaranteed by the town council;
3º The town will be responsible for collecting the monthly fees.

Please share our conditions, Father, with those gentlemen, and let us know the result of their deliberations. As soon as we have taken sufficient means to insure the continuation of that establishment, which we look forward to with great pleasure, we will quickly send the brothers. You understand that we cannot begin again in Sorbier, except with positive guarantees, which will protect us from another suspension, which is always very unpleasant both for the towns and for our house.

At the request of Brothers Cassien and Arsène, we will not request either foundation fees nor back payments from past years. It will be a pleasure for us to give this discount to the town of Sorbiers, out of consideration for these good teachers, even though we have not done so anywhere else.

Please accept….

Edition: Translation from: Lettres de Marcellin J. B. Champagnat (1789-1840) Fondateur de l?Institut des Frères Maristes, présentés par Frère Paul Sester,1985.

fonte: Daprès la minute, AFM, RCLA 1, p. 149, nº 189

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