FMS Premier freres COVER MULTILINGUA:Layout 1
8-10-2009
12:36
Pagina 3
OUR FIRST BROTHERS – Marvellous companions of Marcellin
BROTHER JEAN-BAPTISTE
The accounts of the Brothers’ lives presented in this book are, for the most part, an abridgment of “Biographies de quelques Frères”, published by Brother JeanBaptiste in 1868. He, then, is the principal author. Brother Louis-Marie, Superior General, in the Circular written shortly after the death of this Brother, in 1872, declared: «The venerable Father Champagnat has lived on, these thirty-two years, in an Assistant who continued his work and brought it to completion… Is he not for us like a second Founder?» (Circulaires, Vol. IV, p. 250) In these lines can be perceived the admiration and gratitude of the Superior, for one he had known for more than forty years and with whom he had shared a life and ministry in the service of the Brothers, since 12 October 1839, the day of their election as Assistants to Brother François, to the great joy of Father Champagnat. May the reading of these pages arouse our own admiration and gratitude towards Brother Jean-Baptiste. Brother Alain Delorme
Above: Hamlet of Maisonnettes where Gabriel Rivat, Brother François, 1st successor of Father Champagnat, was born. His house is second from right. The institute purchased it in November 1984. Photo: Br. Jean-Paul Mounard. Below: The La Valla house where the Founder gathered his first Brothers and companions. He came to live with them and share their meals in November 1819. Photo: Br. Jean-Pierre Destombes.
Brother Alain Delorme
Cover photos