This is the 25th Anniversary of the Canonisation of St Marcellin Champagnat.

A heart that knows no bounds

On the 18th of April 1999, San Marcellin Champagnat, founder of the Institute of the Marist Brothers, was canonized in the Vatican. “Dear young people who have come to express your devotion to the spirit of education given by Fr Champagnat, I encourage you to remain faithful in the path to which you are called by God”, Pope John Paul II said, in his welcoming speech to the pilgrims of different parts of the world, assembling in Rome for the canonization of Father Champagnat. 

The Marist family experienced the canonization as a special occasion, under the slogan “A heart that knows no bounds”. For the Marists of Champagnat, the canonization of Father Champagnat was “the official recognition of the Church that our Founder was a Saint, raised up by the Holy Spirit to help all those following in his footsteps on the road to sanctity. Also, he can be recognised as a reference point for our own lives, as a sure intercessor with God”, just as Brother Gabriele Andreucci, General Postulator, mentioned at that time.

Courtesy Marist Institute 18th April 1999: Canonization of Father Champagnat – Champagnat