Jean-Claude Colin
| Ven. Jean-Claude Colin, S.M. | |
|---|---|
Ven. Jean-Claude Colin, S.M.
|
|
| Religious Priest, Founder | |
| Born |
7 August 1790 St-Bonnet-le-Troncy, France |
| Died | 15 November 1875 (aged 85) La Neylière, France |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Feast | 15 November |
The Venerable Jean-Claude Colin, S.M. was a French priest (7 August 1790 – 15 November 1875) who became the founder of the Society of Mary (Marists).
When Jean-Claude Colin’s parents married in 1771 his father Jacques was 24 years old, and his mother Marie Gonnet was not yet 14. Jean-Claude, born on August 7, 1790, at the hamlet of Barbery, in the Beaujolais region of central France. He was their eighth child. All told, nine children were born into the family. Claudine, Jean, Mariette, Sebastien, Jeanne-Marie, Pierre, Anne-Marie (who died at birth), Jean-Claude, and Joseph. Jean-Claude’s oldest sister Claudine was his godmother, and his brother Jean was his godfather, hence the baby’s name Jean-Claude. His parents owned and cultivated a piece of land, and during the winter turned to weaving. The Revolution and the subsequent Civil Constitution of the Clergy brought a split into the Church, separating priests who supported the Constitution from those who remained faithful to Rome. Jean-Claude’s parents supported the clergy loyal to Rome. An order of arrest was issued against Jacques Colin who had openly supported the parish priest, Father Cabuchet. Jacques had to hide for a year: his house was boarded up and all his goods were sold. In 1795 Marie Colin died, aged 37. Jacques Colin died not quite three weeks later, leaving the children orphaned. Jean Claude was not yet five years old. He was put under the care of a paternal uncle, Sebastian, who lived at St.Bonnet-le-Troncy. Sebastian was a bachelor who employed a housekeeper, Marie Echallier, to look after the children of the Colin household. This lady was a deeply religious woman, but one of those for whom religion and guilt seemed to go hand in hand. In these years Jean-Claude developed a scrupulosity which gave him much trouble, but which was in later life to make sensitive to burdened people. At the age of fourteen Jean-Claude and his brother Pierre, entered the minor seminary of Saint-Jodard, a secondary school for boys preparing for priesthood, and hoping to spend a life of quiet prayer in a gentle ministry. The disciplined lifestyle, obedience and piety came easily to him. The River Loire was nearby, close enough for the lads of St Jodard to enjoy its banks and summer waters. In 1809 Jean-Claude continued his secondary studies at Alix, and finally at Verrières-en-Forez, where he was a contemporary of Marcellin Champagnat and John Vianney. Despite being beset with serious illness and questions raised about his suitability for an active life, Jean-Claude handled his studies without difficulty and was among the top students. At the end of the summer of 1813 Jean-Claude set off for the major seminary of Saint Irenaeus at Lyon for the final years of preparation for the priesthood. He was twenty-three years old. Here he met with Jean-Claude Courveille. Towards the end of 1814 Jean-Claude Courveille, who had been a student in another seminary, transferred to Saint-Irénaeus. His diocese had been suppressed and merged into Lyon. Courveille had been cured of semi-blindness after prayer to Our Lady of Le Puy and in gratitude had the inspiration and inner conviction that just as there had arisen at the time of the Reformation a Society dedicated to Jesus, the Jesuits, so at this time of Revolution there could be a Society dedicated to Mary whose members would call themselves Marists. Courveille recruited a group of senior seminarians to his idea of founding a Society of Mary. On July 22, 1816, several deacons of St Irenaeus were ordained priests of the Lyon diocese. They included Colin, Courveille and a youthful Marcellin Champagnat. Next day, July 23, a group of twelve climbed the hill to the shrine of Notre-Dame de Fourvière overlooking Lyons to the ancient chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here, they pledged to establish the Society of Mary as soon as they could. Colin celebrated his first Mass at Salles on 26 July. Newly ordained Frs Courveille and Champagnat were also dispatched at once to parishes in the Lyon archdiocese.
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