[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 49 (Monday, April 12, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                A TRIBUTE TO FATHER MARCELLIN CHAMPAGNAT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 12, 1999

  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life and 
achievements of Father Marcellin Champagnat (1789-1840), Founder of the 
Marist Brothers of the Schools.
  Born in France in 1789, Marcellin Champagnat grew up in an isolated 
rural area, where education was in a sorry state. Remembering his own 
intellectual deprivation as a child, he insisted to his companions, 
``We must have Brothers, to catechize poor children and give them a 
basic education!'' That conviction became the driving force in his life 
and led to the foundation of a new teaching congregation in the 
Catholic church, the Marist Brother of the Schools.
  He began his dream in 1817, with two young parishioners, one that was 
illiterate and the other only fifteen years old. Dividing his time 
between his parish duties and his two new disciples he began to succeed 
little by little and by 1824, he had been released from parish duties 
in order to devote all his time and energy to the Brother and to the 
rapidly growing network of Marist Schools in France.
  Through it all, Father Champagnat displayed the same attitude as had 
St. Paul: ``We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, 
but never in despair; there are many enemies, but we are never without 
a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed'' (2 Cor 
4:8-9).
  Even after Father Champagnat's death, the Marist family continued to 
grow. In 1886 they came to the United States, where they now carry on 
their educational ministry in fourteen states and several overseas 
missions.
  On April 18th, Marcellin Champagnat will be honored by the Catholic 
Church when he will be canonized in a ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica 
in Rome.
  It is fitting and proper that we, too, honor Father Marcellin 
Champagnat.

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