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parochial duties and form into a miaaonary band for
the rural districts. Their zeal and success in that
arduous work moved the bishop to entrust them also
with the conduct of his semin^uy, thus enliurginf; tibe
scope of their work. However, the fact that Bishop
Devie wanted a diocesan institute only, and that
Fr. Colin was averse to such a limitation, came near
placing the nascent order in jeopardy when Pope
Gregory XVI, in quest of missionaries for Oceanica,
by Brief of 29 April, 1836, approved definitively the
"Priests of the Society of Mary" or Marist Fathers,
as a religious institute with simple vows and under a
superior general. The Ld ttle Brothers of Mary and
the Sisters of the Holy Name of Blary, commonly
called Marist Brothers and Marist Sisters, were re-
served for separate institutes. Father Colin was
elected superior general on 24 Sept., 1836, on which
day occurred the first Marist profession, Blessed
Pierre Chanel (q. v.), Venerable Colin, and Venera-
ble Champagnat Deing among the professed.
II. Development (1836-1910).— From its defini- tive organization to the present date (1910) the Society of Mary, under four superiors general — J. C. M. Colin (1836-54), J. Favre (1854-85), A. Martin (1885-1905), J. C. Raffin (1905 — ) — ^has developed alongthe various lines of its constitutions in and out of France. In France it has done work in the mission field from many missionary residences established in various centres. When educational liberty was restored to French Catholics, it also entered the field of secondary, or college education, its methods being embodi^ in Montfat's "Thtorie et pratique de Teducation chn^ tienne (Paris, 1880), and moreover assumed the di- rection of a few diocesan seminaries together with professorships in Catholic institutes for higher educa- tion. The French houses have also supplied men for the various missions undertaken abroad by the So- ciety of Mary.
CKitside of France, the first field of labour offered the Marists (1836) was the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceanica, comprising New Zealand, the Friendly Islands, the Navi^tor Islands, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Guinea, the Solomon and Caroline Islands. Under the secular bishop, Dr. Pompallier, who took up his residence in New Zealand, the Marists successive)^ oc- cupied Wallis (1837), soon converted by Fr. Bataillon; Futuna (1837), the place of Blessed Pierre Chanel's martyrdom; Tonga (1842), turned by Fr. C!hevron into a model Christian community; New C^edonia (1843), where Bishop Douarre, Pompallier's coadjutor, met untold difficulties and Brother Blaise was massacred^ and, in spite of much Protestant opposition, Fiji (1844) and Samoa (1845). The immense area of the vicariate, together with the presence at its head of a secular bishop, soon necessitated the creation of smaller districts under Marist bishops: Central Ocean- ica imder Bishop Bataillon (1842), Melanesia and Micronesia under Bishop Epalle (1844), New Cale- donia under Bishop Douarre (1847), Wellington (New Zealand) under Bishop Viard (1848), Bishop Pompal- lier retaining Aucklana; the Navigator Islands (1851), long administered by the Vicar Apostolic of Central Oceanica ; the Prefecture of Fiii (lS63) , etc. Of these, Melanesia and Micronesia haa to be abandon^ after the massacre of Bishop Epalle at Isabella Island and the sudden death of his successor, Bishop Colomb, the Solomon Islands alone reverting to the Amrists in 1898. Those various missions have progressed steadily under the Marist Fathers who, beside their religious work, have largely contributed to make known the lan- guages, fauna, and flora of the South Sea Islands (see Hervier, Les missions Maristes en Oceanic", Paris, 1902), and helped in their colonisation (de Salinis, " Marins ct Missionnaires", Paris, s. d.). Tlie growth of New Zealand has been such a.s to call for a regular hierarchy, and the Marists were concentrated (1887)
in the Archdiocese of Wellington and the Diocese of
Christchurch^ still so vemed by members of the order.
In the British Isfes, the Manst foundations began aa early as 1850 at the request of Cardinal Wiseman, but have not grown beyond three colleges and five par- ishes. In the United States, the Society of Mary has taken a firmer hold. From Louisiana, whither Arch- bishop Odin called them (1863) to take charge of a Frendi parish and college, the Marists have passed into eleven states and even branched off into Mexico, and, although continuing to minister to a number ot French speaking communities, they have not limited their action there, but gradually taken up, both in par- ishes and colleges, .^onerican work, their training houses being almost entirely recruited in this country and being located in Washington.
in. Present State (1910). — ^The Society of Mary is now divided into six provinces: 2 in France, 1 in the British Isles, 1 in the United States, 1 in New Zealai^d, and 1 in Oceanica.
The French provinces (Lyons and Paris) counted at the time of the Association Act (1901) 9 institutes for the training of aspirants or of young religious, 15 missionary residences with chapels, 9 colleges for sec- ondary education, and three diocesan seminaries, with a total of 340 priests, 100 novices, and 34 lay-brothers. The Association Act of 1901, by dissolving religious communities and confiscating their property, told heavily on these establishments: the training-houses had to be transferred to foreign parts (Belgium, Italy, and Spun); the diocesan seminaries were taken from the reugious; the residences were confiscated and their inmates compelled either to go into exile or to live separately in rented quarters; the colleges alone sur- vived in part by becoming diocesan establishments. To the French provinces are attached, in Germany, an apostolic seminary for the German Missions in Ocean- ica, and, in Italy and Spain, various chaplaincies and houses of retreat for the aged or the exiled fathers.
The Anglo-Irish province, erected in 1889, com- prises 5 parishes (3 in London, 1 in Devonshire, and 1 m Yorkshire) and three colleges (1 in Dublin, 1 in Dundalk, and 1 in Middlesborough) with 46 priests, 8 novices, and 6 lay-brothers.
The New Zealand province, erected in 1889, com-
E rises, in the Archdiocese of Wellington and the diocese of Christchurch, 1 novitiate-scholasticate, 1 second novitiate, 1 college, 20 parishes among the whites, 6 missions among the Maoris and one mission- ary band, with 1 archbishop^ 1 bishop, 70 priests, 17 novices, 15 lay-brothers, ministering to a Catholic pcjoulation of about 30,000.
The Province of Oceanica, erected in 1898, com- prises, besides a procurator house at Sydney and three missions in Australia, five vicariates ((central Oceanica with 15 stations; the Navigator Islands or Samoa with 15 stations; New Caledonia with 36 stations; Fiji with 17 stations; New Hebrides with 22 stations) and two prefectures (the Southern Solomon Islands with 8 sta- tions and the Northern Solomon Islands with 5 stations). It counts: 5 vicars Apostohc, 2 prefects ApostoUc, 200 priests, 25 lay-brothers (all diarists), assisted by lid Little Brothers of Mary, 566 native catechists, and a large number of sisters, both Euro- pean and native, of the Third Order Regular of Mary and of Our Lady of the Missions^ founded by the Marists. The Catholic population is about 41,885.
The province of the United States, erected in 1889, comprises two training houses in Washington, District of CS>lumbia, 4 colleges (Jefferson College, Louisiana; An Hallows' College,lJtah; St. Mary's CoUege, Maine; Marist College, Georgia)^ 18 parishes in various states, and missions in West Virginia and Idaho. Its mem- bership consists of 1 archbishop, 105 priests, 75 novices, and 5 lay-brotherH. There are about 600 boys in the colleges and 70.000 Catholics in the parishes and mis- sions. From tnis province has been detached (1905)
