2AART
762
MARY
the Vice-province of Mexico which counts 26 priests
working in 1 college with 350 pupils and 6 parishes
with a large number of parishioners, French, Ameri-
can, German, and Mexiaan.
IV. Rule. — According to their constitutions, ap- proved by ()apal Decree of 8 March, 1873, the Marists profess, besides the three simple and perpetual vows of
Eoverty^ chastity, and obedience, common to all simi- ir institutes, a spirit of special devotion to Mary, absolute loyalty to the Holy See, reverence for the hierarchy, and the love of the hidden life, conformably to their motto: Ignoti et quasi occuUi in hoc mundo (see G. Goyau, "Le role de l'humilit6 dans la fondation d'un Ordre", Paris, 1910). The work of the order includes missions, both domestic and foreign; colleges for the education of youth, and, in a less degree, seminaries for the training of clerics. Its members are either priests or lay-brothers. The candidates for the priesthood are prepared, once their classical course is over, by one year or novitiate, two years of philosophy, four years of theology, additional opportunities being given to those especially gifted. After ten years o( profession and after the age of thirtv-five, the priests are allowed to take the vow of stability, which ren- ders them eligible for the chapters and the high offices of the society. The lay-brothers after a long pro- bation take the same vows as the priests, and devote themselves to the care of temporalities. Its govern- ment is in the hands of general oflScers and of chapjters. The general officers, whose official residence is in Rome, are the superior general, his four assistants, the general procurator, the procurator aptui Sanctam Sedem, all elected oy the chapter general — the first for life, the others till the following chapter. The provincial and local superiors are appointed by the superior general and his counsel. The general chap- ters, wherein all the provinces are represented m proportion to their membership, meet regularly every seven years, and, besides electing the general officers, issue statutes for the good of the whole order. Provin- cial chapters are convened every three years for the purpose of electing representatives to the chapters general, auditing the finances, and ensuring the disci- pline oi each province. As the general statutes take effect only after due approbation by the Holy See. so the provincial statutes are in vigour only when ana as approved by the superior council. By Apostolic Brief of 8 Sept., 1850. a Third Order of Mary for persons living in the world was canonically established and has a large membership wherever the Marists are found.
ConstittUionea S. M, (Lyons, 1873); Staiuta Capitidorum Oeneralium 3. M. (Lyons, 1907); Esprit de la SocUU de Marie (Pans, 1905); Life of Venerable Fr. Colin (St. Louis, L909.); ixi SocieU de Marie in RecnUemerU Sacerdotal (Paris, 1906-7); Chroniques et annales de la SomdtS de Marie (Lugon, 1903 —; Roulers, 1908 — ); Baunard. Un nkde de VEglise de France (Pans* 1902), 49. For the Missions: Adbry, Missione of the Society of Mary in Annale of the Propagation of the Faith (Balti- more, 1905); Hekvier, LjCS Missions Maristes en Oceanic (Paris. 19()2); Matet, Mgr Douarre . . . en Nouvelle-CalS- donie (Lyons, 1884); Manoerkt, Mgr Bataillon (Lyons, 1884); MoNFAT, Afar. EUoy ... en Oc6anie centrale (Lyons. 1890); Idem, Les Samoa (Lyons, 1891); Idem, Dix ans en MHanisie (Lyons, 1891); Idem, Les Tonga (Lyons, 1893). See abo Ldtres des Missionnairea S. M. and AnneUea des Missions 3, M. (Lyona). For Enclish speakine countries: Mangeret, Les ongines de la fox Ca/holigue en Nouvelle-Z^nde (Lyons, 1892); La Sociftc de Marie en AmMque (Montreal. 1007); MAcCAr- VBBT. History of the Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Cen^ fury (2 vols., Dublin, 1909), passim; Tablet (London) and TcJblet (New Zealand), passim. J. F. SOLUER.
Mary, Society of, of Paris, founded in 1817 by- Very Reverend William Joseph Chaminade at Bor- deaux, France. In 1839 Gregory XVI issued a decree of commendation to the society in praise of the work done by its members. Pius IX recognized it as a reli- gious body in 1865, and finally in 1891, after a careful examination of the special features in which the •ociety differed notably from other orders, Leo XIII gave canonical approbation to its constitutions. In .accordance with thi« Brief, the Society of Mary of
Paris is a religious society of clerical and lay members,
who make the usual simple vows of poverty, chastity,
and obedience, to which at the time of their final pro-
fession they add the fourth vow of stability in the
service of the Blessed Virgin. Its members are offi-
cially designated by the IU>man Curia as Marianists,
to distinguish them from the Mariste of the Society of
Mar}^ of Lyons, founded at Lyons in 1816.
William Joseph Chaminade was bom at Pcri^^eux, France, in 1761. After his ordination, he taught in the college of Mussidan until the outbreak of the French Revolution, which drove most of the clergy from France. During this terrible period he continued the exercise of his sacred ministry in spite of the gravest dangers of arrest and death, from which, indeed, he escaped only by adopting numerous disguises and changing continually nis hiding-places. At the re- newiuof the persecution in 1797, he was driven into exile at Saragossa, Spain, where he remained for three years. It was during this period of retreat and medi- tation on the needs of the Church that he matured hds plans for the restoration of the Christian spirit of France. After his return to Bordeaux in 1800, nis first efforts resulted in the formation of two sodalities or congregations of men and women, whose faith and zeal prompted them to co-operate with him in his efforts to repair the losses sustained by the Church in France during the Revolution. The religious influence of these sodalities was soon felt, and Father Chami- nade quickly gathered around him a number of holy souls, hound to him by no other ties than those of their zeal and piety, but all eager to consecrate them- s^vcs to God under his direction for the salvation of souls. Their desires culminated in the foundation of the Daughters of Mary in 1816, and of the Society of Mary m 1817. The constitutions of the Society of Mary specifv the salvation of its own members as its primary end. Its secondary end includes all works of zeal. However, Christian education specially appeals to it, and for this reason it has devoted most of its energies to the management of schools of every kind.
A distinctive feature of the Society of Mary is the composition of its membership, which, as statea above, consists of both clerical and lay members who make profession of the same four vows. Except the func- tions of the sacred ministry, which are necessarily restricted to the priests, and a limited number of other functions which are reserved by the constitutions, some to the priests and some to the lay members, all members may be employed, according to their abiUty but without distinction of class, in the various wor^ oi the order as well as in its government. In this com- bination of the forces of priests and laymen the founder squght to remove the limitations of usefulness to which each category' would be subject without the co-operation of the otner. The general superior and his assistants resided at Bordeaux until 1860, when they removed to Paris, where the headquarters of the order were maintained until the expulsion of the society from France in 1903. Since then the seat of the general administration has be«n at Nivelles, Bel- gium. The increase and expansion of the order has been rapid. In 1908 it comprised seven provinces and one vice-province, with houses in Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Africa, China, Japan, the Hawaiian Islands, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The Society of Mary was introduced into the United States in 1849, when its first house was founded in the Archdiocese of Cincin- nati. In 1908 it had increased to 53 establishments, comprising 2 normal schools, 4 colleges, 3 high schools, and 44 parochial schools. Thirty-nve of mese com- munities belong to the Cincinnati province, with the residence of the provincial at Nazareth, Daj'ton, Ohio; the remaining eighteen form the St. Louis province, with the residence of the provincial at Chaminade Col- lege, Cla>'tun, AL'ssouri. GEOJiOE Meter.
