Marianists of East Africa at PO Box 50504 , 00200 Nairobi - City Square , Nairobi Province 00200 KE - WILLIAM JOSEPH CHAMINADE: FOUNDER OF THE MARIANIST FAMILY

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   William Joseph Chaminade missionary, is not one of those heroes who set out from far away to evangelize non-Christian regions of Africa or Asia. He was a priest from Perigueux and his range of action was practically limited to the southwest and northeast of France in the early nineteenth century. That is where he was going to be a missionary, at the service of the Faith, in a new and original way in the wake of the Revolution.

Education - Formation

   He was born on 8 April 1761, the fourteenth and last child of a family of cloth merchants from Perigueux. He attended the college-seminary of St. Charles de Mussidan, where his faith and his Marian devotion were fortified. To complete his education, he spent some time in Paris where he was strongly influenced by the French School of spirituality. He was ordained priest in 1785 and became bursar and professor at Mussidan until the Revolution broke out in 1789.

   His family education, completed by his theological and professional formation, brought out the dominating traits of his personality: a strong constitution, both physical and moral, sound common sense, balanced judgement, the qualities of a man of action rooted in a profound interior life. Like his brothers at St. Charles, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790), as a result of which the college was shut down.

The trial of theRevolution

   He refused to go into exile during the Reign of Terror. In Bordeaux, where he settled down at the age of thirty, although a price was put on his head, he went into hiding in order to exercise a productive ministry, under different disguises and often at the risk of his life.  The risk of the scaffold strengthened his faith.

The exile in Spain

   Exiled by the Directoire (1797), he went to Saragossa, Spain, where for three years he led a life of prayer, reflection and study at the foot of Our Lady of the Pillar. In this way he prepared himself for his future mission while at the same time he reviewed his past life.

“Apostolic Missionary”: creative audacity in fidelity

    When he was allowed to return to Bordeaux, at the end of 1800, he was appointed administrator of the Bazas diocese and, on his request, he received from Rome the title of “Missionary Apostolic.” This title was always very dear to him on account of its strong symbolic implications. He was going to be a Missionary in a new way, and he was going to instill this spirit into his disciples. 

   On 8 December 1800, he gathered together twelve young Christians to form the Marian Sodality which would become the base of his work at the service of the new evangelization. He saw his ministry as a mission - at the service of the Faith - with new means - in alliance with Mary. It is a matter of  “reviving of rekindling everywhere the divine torch of Faith.” “You are all missionaries!” Each “member of the Socality” is called to “multiply Christians.” Every group of the Sodality is in “permanent mission.” This priest did not want to “compete” with others. So, he and his disciples were going to be missionaries “outside of the parishes,” in order to reach out to those who were on the fringes of society, who did not go to church, and thus be able to welcome everyone. In his arguments with parish institutions he usually told them: “we make Christians so that you may have parishes.”

   Thanks to the experience he gathered during the three years of exile, he understood that an era had come to an end and a new one had begun. It was necessary to find new instruments in order to respond to new needs. New methods were necessary in order to proclaim or cultivate faith and remedy the isolation of Christians.

   These means were simple: starting from baptism, to live according to this sacrament. It is baptism that makes every Christian a missionary. The faith that one receives and lives is expected to become contagious.

The “Bordeaux Sodality”: a lay movement

   When he returned to Bordeaux he formed some “Marian Sodalities” (today's Sodalities or Marianist Lay Communities), made up of men and women of all ages and conditions. He provided them with a sound Christian formation and assigned to them specific missionary tasks. Thus hundreds of youngsters and adults gathered together. As of 15 August 1804, the Chapel of the Madeleine became the center where they met.

Towards a Secular Institute: The Marian Alliance

   In 1809, Napoleon's ban on “religious groupings” forced Father Chaminade to reduce their apostolic work to a minimum. This trial generated new impetus: a certain number of Sodality members made private vows and lived under a rule that is very similar to that of Secular Institutes in order to carry on their work of evangelization and formation. Today's Marian Alliance, similar to a Secular Institute, is an extension of this group.

The need for a man who would never die: Religious Institutes

   Together with his most zealous disciples, thanks to the Restoration, he finally accomplished a project that had been very dear to him for a long time: the establishment of Religious Congregations in order to guarantee continuity to the animation of the lay groups. On 25 May 1816, with Mlle de Trenquelléon, a member of the Feugarolles Sodality (Lot-et-Garonne), he established in Agen the Institute of the Daughters of Mary. On 2 October 1817, the male branch was established in Bordeaux under the name of the Society of Mary, which gathered in community lay religious and priests who would later be known as “Marianists.” Thus, Father Chaminade possessed the ideal tool that would allow him to accomplish greater enterprises. In Agen, in Bordeaux and in the southwest of France, these two new institutes opened primary schools and then secondary schools as well as orphanages and technical schools. Teaching was, in fact, one of the main needs of that period. Very soon (1823), this educational work based on teaching, in which faith education is naturally integrated, spread to the northeast (Franche-Comté and Alsace). A wonderful project of teacher training colleges to train educators, based on an exemplary enterprise in St. Rémy (Haute-Saone), was interrupted by the revolution in 1830.

The final years

   He spent the last twenty years of his life following the development of the works and communities which he had helped to establish in France, Switzerland and the United States, while providing his two Institutes with Constitutions to allow them to carry on his work. He faced physical and moral trials which helped to purify his faith, hope and charity. His filial trust in Mary kept him in peace. He died in Bordeaux near the Chapel of the Madeleine on 22 January 1850, surrounded by his disciples.

Father Chaminade today

In many countries of the world, the present situation is very similar to the one that followed the French Revolution of 1789. Needless to say, today the Faith is not destroyed by a revolutionary wave as it was back then. Nevertheless, there is great disarray in our world: its reference points are often not Christian. The hustle to get “more and more”, of consumerism, progress and “sensationalism” rather than “service” is in contempt of the real nature of humankind. The injustice of the “survival of the fittest” widens the gap between the rich and the poor. In this pluralistic world, Father Chaminade continues to call us to strongly promote the Faith in today's society. We have Good News to bring to everyone. Father Chaminade is topical. And Mary is the guide on the path of Faith and action. Like the disciples of Cana, she calls us to the mission: “Do whatever he tells you!”

William Joseph Chaminade - Critical Dates

1761 - Born: Périgueux, France.

1785 - Ordained priest.

1791 - Refuses to swear the oath for the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

1792 - 1797 Underground ministry in Bordeaux during the Reign of Terror.

1797 - 1800 Exile in Zaragossa, Spain ... Planing to re-Christianize France.

1801 - Requests and receives the title “Missionary Apostolic”.

1801 - Renews the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception: birth of the Marianist Family.

 1816 - Co-founds the Institute of the Daughters of Mary (Marianists Sisters) with Venerable Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon.

1817 - Founds the Society of Mary - Marianist Brothers and Priests. Continues and expands his ministry through the Marianist Family.

1850 - Dies, Bordeaux, France.

1973 - Declared Venerable by Pope Paul VI.

2000 - Declared the Blessed Founder of the Marianist Family by Pope John Paul II.