An educator for our times

A man of practical vision, an innovator

18. From a young age, Marcellin showed his enterprise and foresight. He was looking forward to life as a farmer and was keenly interested in raising and selling sheep. ¹¹ Yet, as soon as he heard God’s call, he redirected his enthusiasm and energy to preparing for his mission as a priest.

19. With his closeness to the people of his area and a keen sense of their disadvantage in a changing world, Marcellin dared to imagine other possibilities beyond the vision of his contemporaries in Church and government. His determination and drive led him to gather followers to found a new religious community within six months of his ordination. The source of his apostolic energy was his unfailing trust in God and in Mary.

20. He was also realistic and pragmatic. In order to establish the Brothers, he was very enterprising, in buying land and houses, and in erecting, renovating, and enlarging buildings to make them suitable for religious community life and formation. ¹² Similarly, he had a practical approach to solving problems as can be seen, for example, in his efforts to seek official recognition for his group and a solution to the conscription of his young Brothers.

21. The key to his success as a leader was his ability to relate to other people and to communicate with them. His personality and his project won over young people and he had the gift of bringing the best qualities out of them so that they became the best ambassadors of his work. Further, through his letter-writing and personal appeals to Church and government authorities, and through his careful preparation of a set of statutes and a prospectus, he presented, defended and promoted the project he had received from God. ¹³

Educator of children and youth

22. Marcellin was a born teacher. In Marlhes, during his vacations from the seminary, he attracted children and even adults who came from quite a distance to attend his catechism lessons. ¹⁴ They listened to him attentively, sometimes for more than two hours. In La Valla, the young curate transformed the parish by his welcoming and simple manner and by the constant quality of what he had to say during catechism lessons or his Sunday sermons, linking faith and life. ¹⁵

23. He also showed himself to be a first-class educator of young people. His success in transforming the mostly poorly educated youth who wanted to be Brothers into capable teachers and religious educators was extraordinary. He was present among them, gave them good example, and helped them to develop humanly and spiritually. The secret of his success lay in the great simplicity with which he related to his young followers and in his great confidence in them.

24. Together with them he drew up and refined a system of educational values taking Mary as model, the servant of God and educator of Jesus in Nazareth. ¹⁶ Likewise he was enterprising in implementing and adapting the most effective pedagogical approaches of his day. ¹⁷

Formator of young apostles

25. Marcellin showed personal interest in each one of his young Brothers, guided them spiritually, encouraged them to become qualified, and entrusted them with apostolic responsibilities. He visited their schools, and accompanied each Brother in his mission as teacher and catechist. ¹⁸

26. He nurtured in them an apostolic spirituality based on a sense of the Presence of a loving and faithful God, ¹⁹ on leading a committed life taking Mary as Model and Mother, ²⁰ and on a spirit of fraternal care in community. He introduced them to the love of Jesus as expressed in the Crib, the Cross and the Altar²¹ - not just as a focus for personal contemplation but as reminders of their own call to express love in down-to-earth ways. His love of the poor was a model for those who would claim the name "Marist". ²²

27. Marcellin developed a system of ongoing professional development which involved both theory and practical experience and was community-based. Especially during the early years, the summer vacations were put to good use for improving his Brothers' store of knowledge and their educational methods through such means as individual and group work, examining committees, and conferences. ²³

28. He established a similar system for the formation of leaders, especially school principals, in areas of administration, accounting, handling responsibility, relating with the other Brothers, and working as a council or as a team. ²⁴