Marists in Brazil establish a special date in honor of Our Lady Good Mother

Vatican News

The Marists of Brazil will celebrate, for the first time, the Marist Day of Our Lady of the Good Mother on May 4th. Established by consensus between the three Marist provinces of the country, the celebration aims to highlight Mary as the original inspiration of the congregation, since the time of the founder Saint Marcelinho Champagnat, stimulate the theme of vocational animation and motivate the study and experience of Marian Spirituality. To mark the date, a mass will be held at Colégio Marista Champagnat – Taguatinga, in the Federal District, on May 4th, at 10am, with live broadcast via the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= tOG6BbgM_Jw.

“Our founder gave us the name Mary not just for filial devotion, but so that we could live, as Brothers, an apostolic and Marian spirituality. It is Mary, the mother of Jesus, who inspires our being and our actions. This date will be opportune so that all Champagnat Marists in Brazil can celebrate the Marian presence in our educational spaces at the same time as they are invited to live this spirituality”, says the provincial superior, Br. José de Assis Elias de Brito, from the Province Marist Brazil Central-North.

The choice of May 4th refers to an episode that occurred in 1830. After Saint Marcellin Champagnat established the singing of the Salve Regina as part of the Brothers’ daily prayer, the Congregation was preserved from dangers and persecutions that threatened its very existence at the time. .

By creating the Marist Day of Our Lady Good Mother, the Marists of Brazil respond to Champagnat’s desire, expressed in his Spiritual Testament, to make Mary “loved by all, as much as possible”. The tribute also contributed to ecclesiastical life in Brazil, as it can be taken on by ecclesiastical communities and prayer groups that already have, or may have, the Good Mother as their patron saint.

Marist symbol

In 1982, the Brothers found a small statue of the Virgin of the Vow, which belonged to Champagnat, in the archives of the General House (1982), in Rome, and decided to present the image to the Congregation, “renamed” with the more special Marian title to the Founder. : Good Mother. A Marist spiritual symbol was born there, which in a short space of time conquered the entire Institute and became known to everyone, through reproductions made on postcards, posters and statues. For the Brothers, the image of the Good Mother expresses maternal tenderness with so much humanity and beauty, which attracts and enchants all those who see it.