Marist Province of « Brasil Centro-Sul »

On 13 August 2011, a wooden statue of Saint Marcellin Champagnat, 80 cm high, was solemnly enthroned in the sanctuary of Notre-Dame Aparecida, in the city of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo (Brasil). The sanctuary is beautiful and vast, but it includes a parish community very dynamic and active. At the moment of the entrance procession for the eucharistic celebration, the statue of our founder was carried in by the Brothers and former students, and, at the end of the celebration, after being blessed by Fr Vaccari, Rector of the Sanctuary, it was placed in a prominent position. Among those taking part in the ceremony, apart from the Brothers and their colleagues in the city’s Marist school, there were members of the ChMMF, former students and numerous friends of our religious family. Our Founder is better known and thus becomes, more and more, a saint for the whole Church, the people of God.