William Joseph
Chaminade
His Vision and
the Role of Schools
William Joseph
Chaminade (1761-1850), priest of the Diocese of Bordeaux,
France, lived during the years of the French Revolution. In his
ministry following the upheavals of the Revolution, he
encountered an ignorance of religious faith, indifference,
abandonment of Christian life, and the structural ruin of the
Church. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit he realized that
new institutions and new methods were necessary to revive the
religious spirit in his native France.
Father Chaminade
always sought inspiration in Mary, at whose sanctuary of Our
Lady of the Pillar in Saragossa, Spain, he prayed while in exile
during the Revolution. He saw Mary as the one who received the
word of the Lord and pondered it in her heart, the woman who
gave Christ to the world, the Mother who cooperates with the
Holy Spirit in the formation of believers. Mary embodied all
the attitudes of the gospel. He committed himself to assisting
Mary in the mission of bringing persons to become more like her
son, Jesus. With this vision of Mary’s role, he sought to
re-Christianize France.
…the
development of community life
in the spirit of the gospel…
Central to his means
was the development of community life in the spirit of the
gospel and the practice of the early church. Such a community
could be a witness of a people of saints, showing that the
gospel still could be lived in all times and places. A
Christian community could attract others to follow Christ. Thus
he founded communities of lay men and women as a means of
re-Christianizing France.
Eventually, within
these lay Christian communities, some expressed the desire to
follow Christ as vowed religious. Thus, in 1816, Father
Chaminade, in collaboration with Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon,
founded the Daughters of Mary Immaculate (Marianist Sisters).
In 1817, he founded the Society of Mary (Marianist Brothers and
Priests). He saw in these two religious orders the means to
maintain, inspire, and extend the network of communities and
works founded through his inspiration.
Father Chaminade
continued to work of developing lay Christian communities.
Simultaneously, he directed the Marianist religious into schools
that they might become Christian communities of learning.
During his lifetime he founded over 40 schools, including three
teacher-training institutions. Chaminade perceived these
schools as having the mission of inculturation of an essentially
religious worldview. The essential purpose of his schools was
to form persons in religious faith. The teacher worked toward
moral development of the student even when teaching secular
subjects. In contrast to the “teaching practitioner” of his
age, Chaminade desired his educators to give a “Christian lesson
by every word, by every gesture, by every look.” He counseled
them to form the heart and not reject as bad what is not
absolutely good in a student. It sufficed for every person to
be as God wills him or her to be.
From these origins
in France, Marianist education spread to Switzerland (1839),
Austria (1857), Spain (1888), Italy (1888). A year before
Father Chaminade’s death, Marianists came to the United States
in 1849. Today, the Society of Mary serves in 30countries on
five continents. They minister in over 100 schools in the
world, including 24 secondary and middle schools and three
universities (Dayton, St. Mary’s of San Antonio, Chaminade of
Honolulu) in the United States. They also conduct parishes,
retreat centers, and works in developing nations.
As with the first
ministry of Father Chaminade, lay Christian communities,
Marianists assist in animating approximately 300 lay groups with
over 8,000 lay Marianists throughout the world. I all of these
works Marianists continue the vision of Father Chaminade by
carrying out Mary’s mission of bringing persons to Christ, her
son. This ministry serves a world similar in many ways to the
de-Christianized culture of Father Chaminade’s time, yet with
people yearning for a fuller meaning of the purpose of life.
