Fourviere
WHERE THE FIRST MARISTS WERE INSPIRED BY MARY
A PLEDGE WAS MADE…
Over 200 years ago on 23 July 1816, the day after their ordination, twelve enthusiastic young men including Saint Marcellin Champagnat and Venerable Jean-Claude Colin climbed the steep steps to the top of the hill of Fourvière, Lyons.
In the small chapel dedicated to Our Lady, they promised to work for the foundation of a new religious movement: a group called Mary-ists, whose work in the church would be based on Mary’s way of being faithful to the Lord from Nazareth to Pentecost.
Marists regard this event as the foundational moment in the birth of the Society of Mary in its manifold forms (Brothers, Sisters, Laity, Priests).
