Marcellin Champagnat be happy to send you brothers to help in the work in America, if it were at all possible”. Oceania, however, remained the sole overseas mission for a number of years. Marcellin continued to marvel at the growth of the Marist group in general. He once said to his fellow priests, “We who are at the commencement of our work are but raw stones thrown into the foundation. One does not use polished stones for that. There is something marvelous in the commencement of our Society. What is marvelous is that God has wished such people to accomplish his work”.
Marcellin falls ill In the course of 1839 the founder fell ill. Since his sickness of 1825, he suffered constant pain in his side. Later he developed an inflammation of the stomach and vomited frequently. On his return from Paris in 1838, Brother Jean-Baptiste had remarked, “It was easy to see that his end was fast approaching”. Concerned about Marcellin’s deteriorating condition, Father Colin, Superior General of the Marists, arranged for an election to choose the founder’s successor. Brother François, who as a ten-year-old boy had been brought by his brother to one of Marcellin’s catechism lessons, was elected overwhelmingly. Brothers Louis-Marie and Jean-Baptiste were chosen as his assistants. Over the next several months, the founder became progressively more incapacitated, and after May 3rd was no longer able to celebrate mass for the brothers. Sensing that he had little time left, he assembled them in the community room and addressed them for the last time. The young men were choked with emotion, so deep was their love for this priest who had been a father and older brother to them. The end
74