The general aim of the Society is to contribute in the best possible way, both by its prayers and its efforts, to the conversion of sinners and the perseverance of the faithful, and to gather, so to speak, all the members of Christ, whatever their age, sex, or standing, under the protection of the Blessed Mary, the Immaculate Mother of God; and to revive their faith and piety and nourish them with the doctrine of the Roman Church, so that at the end of time as at the beginning, all the faithful may with Gods help be of one heart and one mind in the bosom of the Roman Church, and that all, walking worthily before God and under Marys guidance, may attain eternal life. For this reason entry to the Society is also open to lay people living in the world in this Confraternity or Third Order of Blessed Mary.
Context on the first key document
The text is part of the Summarium presented to Cardinal Odescalchi by Father Jean-Claude Colin on his first visit to Rome, on 9 December 1833. It is the first paragraph of Chapter 4.
Previously, in 1816, a group of newly ordained priests and some seminarians, in the chapel of Our Ladys shrine at Fourvire, Lyons, France, had solemnly recited a pledge to found a Society of Mary. In the intervening years, the group had scattered into various parishes. J.-C. Colin was sent to Cerdon as curate to his brother, Pierre Colin, the newly appointed parish priest. In 1818, he made a vow to work for the establishment of this Society until it could be presented to the Church in Rome for approval.
So he worked on a plan for it, which he wrote in French in the no-longerextant Cerdon Notebook; this notebook contained his early ideas about the Society. Because he had vowed to undertake the work till it could be submitted to the Pope, he regarded it as a matter of conscience.
It seems that the approbation of the Society was another reason for the journey, although Colin eventually asked for much more modest things when he submitted the Summarium (in Latin) and discussed it with Cardinal Castracane, who was looking after the Marist dossier and affairs.
In 1870, at the time of the General Chapter, where his Constitutions were accepted, he says:
The plan presented set forth the Society such as I felt I was obliged to propose it to the Sovereign Pontiff by virtue of my vow. It was correctly rejected, as I expected, moreover.
Previous recourse to Rome had ended in 1822 with the decision of the Paris Nuncio, Monsignor Macchi, to entrust the documents to Monsignor Devie, Bishop of Belley. In 1830, after Colin had been elected central Superior of the two groups of aspiring Marists in Belley and around Lyon, he wrote again to Macchi, now a Curial Cardinal. Macchi advised him to come to Rome, but the Bishops of both dioceses (de Pins in Lyons) opposed that plan because of the Italian political situation.
In 1833, when it seemed that Bishop de Pins was no longer in opposition, Colin had an interview with Bishop Devie, who gave his consent when he heard of Colins vow. Moreover, Colin had written to Macchi in April 1833 and the letter was accompanied by a petition to the Pope. Macchi had written to Devie, asking him to give permission for the journey.
A dossier was prepared with testimonial letters from both Bishops, statements regarding the position of the Society in their respective dioceses, and the Bishop of Grenobles report on the Marist Brothers of the Schools in his diocese. With these was the text of the completely revised Fathers Rule, a letter of introduction signed by all the priest aspirants and a petition for the Third Order at Belley.
Fathers Chanel (Belley) and Bourdin (Lyon) accompanied Colin, setting out on 29 August after a Mass at Fourvire. Macchi took the dossier dossier and presented it to Gregory XVI on 17 September. On 28 September the three priests had a private audience with the Pope, and Colin presented him with a Petition concerning the Third Order. The Holy Father passed everything over for examination and consideration by the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. After the three priests had made a pilgrimage to Loreto, the other two returned to France while Colin remained in Rome. He had asked several members of the Curia to examine the Rule of the whole project (probably an abridged version, copies of which he had brought with him) and was advised to restrict himself to the Priests Rule. However, he was to give an outline of the Rules for the other Branches.
So Colin wrote the text that is the Summarium Regularum, which deals with the Priests in much detail and the other branches only in outline. He made only four requests at this stage, as he realised that approbation would be a long process. They were: to receive postulants, to elect a Superior General, to take religious vows and to obtain a grant for indulgences for the Third Order.
Cardinal Odescalchi, in an interview with Colin, explained that the project presented problems because it was so far-reaching and broad in vision and scope. He placed Cardinal Castracane in charge of it, and Colin had several interviews with him, being well-received. However, the Cardinal was unable to come to terms with Colins grand vision of a Society with three religious branches and a Confraternity of lay people under a single Superior General. He saw it as outlandish, particularly the worldwide Confraternity not under the authority of diocesan bishops. He felt that such a potentially powerful group of people would arouse fear and suspicion in rulers of the different countries.
Although Colin wrote two further short summaries to make the dossier clearer, he prudently withdrew his earlier requests for the Priests Branch (which would have nearly been given approbation) and asked only that the priests of the two dioceses be allowed to elect Superiors approved by the Ordinaries (Bishops) and that indulgences be granted to the various Branches of the Society. These requests were granted at the meeting of the Sacred Congregation on 31 January 1834, and letters were to be written to the Bishops of Belley and Lyon.
Colin returned to Belley on 21 February, leaving matters in Rome in the hands of one Fr Paul Trinchant (former secretary of the Bishops of Chartres, who was now postulator for the cause to canonise Jeanne de Lestonnac). The letters to the Ordinaries were never sent, as the instructions do not seem to have been clearly communicated. Father Coste, in Lectures on the Society of Mary (pp 101-102), tells us it was due to the subtle interventions of Trinchant that this happened.
The final outcome was that Colin received three Briefs for the Third Order of Belley (promulgated on the 12 and 14 August 1834). The dossier of the Society of Mary seemed forgotten, till an unforeseen circumstance 2 in 1835 caused the Sacred Congregation to take it up again. The Marists were offered and accepted responsibility for the missions of Western Oceania, with Fr Pompallier nominated as Vicar Apostolic. This led to the approbation of the priests of the Society of Mary by the brief Omnium Gentium of 13 May 1836.
There can be no doubt that the Society of Mary does not exist only because of Colins vision of a vast Marian project; he desired to test it in the eyes of the Church to see if it would be worthy of recognition. If it were not, in going to Rome in 1833 and presenting his dossier, Colin would have fulfilled his vow and would know that no more was required of him. Nothing would have happened without Colins journey to Rome and his discussions with the Churchs representatives about the written material, including the Summarium. All this set in motion the train of events that followed.
The general aim of the Society is to contribute in the best possible way, both by its prayers and its efforts, to the conversion of sinners and the perseverance of the faithful, and to gather, so to speak, all the members of Christ, whatever their age, sex, or standing, under the protection of the Blessed Mary, the Immaculate Mother of God; and to revive their faith and piety and nourish them with the doctrine of the Roman Church, so that at the end of time as at the beginning, all the faithful may with Gods help be of one heart and one mind in the bosom of the Roman Church, and that all, walking worthily before God and under Marys guidance, may attain eternal life. For this reason entry to the Society is also open to lay people living in the world in this Confraternity or Third Order of Blessed Mary.
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