Jean-Claude Colin and some companions were not yet 30 years old when they started a religious family that would become the Society of Mary (Marists). Having experienced the turbulent French Revolution as children, they felt the need to proclaim the Good News with a greater sense of compassion and humility. These meditations invite you to reflect upon the courage and selflessness that imitate Mary and that continue to draw people to the Marist life.

Dorothy Day connected radical faith with doing radical deeds. Beginning from her discovery of God in the Word when she was eight years old, Michael Boover shares Dorothy’s reflections about her pilgrimage to the daily discipline of readiness and openness to God in her life, especially to God in her neighbor. He shares her words on why and how she prays, on her preference for frequent confession, on her intentional choice of suffering and poverty, and on her desire to imitate the saints and to make sanctity the norm of everyone’s life. In these 15 days, we see how Dorothy’s discipline gave her true freedom. In particular, it allowed her to give priority to Love – to take the most direct route to God by loving her neighbor. She recognized “the paucity of her own best spiritual efforts and took refuge in the fact that God would do for believers what they could not fully do for themselves.” Boover’s practical exercises emulate Day’s own temperament. They push you to live with more integrity and deeper love, and they show a deep compassion for the difficulty of the challenge.

A study of Louisiana French Creole sugar planters’ role in higher education and a detailed history of the only college ever constructed to serve the sugar elite The education of individual planter classes—cotton, tobacco, sugar—is rarely treated in works of southern history. Of the existing literature, higher education is typically relegated to a footnote, providing only brief glimpses into a complex instructional regime responsive to wealthy planters. R. Eric Platt’s Educating the Sons of Sugar allows for a greater focus on the mindset of French Creole sugar planters and provides a comprehensive record and analysis of a private college supported by planter wealth. Jefferson College was founded in St. James Parish in 1831, surrounded by slave-holding plantations and their cash crop, sugar cane. Creole planters (regionally known as the “ancienne population”) designed the college to impart a “genteel” liberal arts education through instruction, architecture, and geographic location. Jefferson College played host to social class rivalries (Creole, Anglo-American, and French immigrant), mirrored the revival of Catholicism in a region typified by secular mores, was subject to the “Americanization” of south Louisiana higher education, and reflected the ancienne population’s decline as Louisiana’s ruling population. Resulting from loss of funds, the college closed in 1848. It opened and closed three more times under varying administrations (French immigrant, private sugar planter, and Catholic/Marist) before its final closure in 1927 due to educational competition, curricular intransigence, and the 1927 Mississippi River flood. In 1931, the campus was purchased by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and reopened as a silent religious retreat. It continues to function to this day as the Manresa House of Retreats. While in existence, Jefferson College was a social thermometer for the white French Creole sugar planter ethos that instilled the “sons of sugar” with a cultural heritage resonant of a region typified by the management of plantations, slavery, and the production of sugar.

In 1830, at the age of forty, Jean-Claude Colin accepted the call of his colleagues to take charge of the Society of Mary (Marists). He had joined this project as a seminarian in Lyons, France, in 1816, along with Marcellin Champagnat, future founder of the Marist teaching brothers. Since ordination, he had been an assistant priest at Cerdon (photo below), preached revival missions in rural districts and been principal of a high school-seminary. Colin always insisted that he was only a temporary superior until someone more capable could take over. Yet, by the time he resigned in 1854, he had obtained papal approval of the priests' branch, established the Society firmly in France, especially in education, and sent fifteen expeditions of missionary priests and brothers to the remote and scattered islands of the southwest Pacific. There they planted the Catholic Church in New Zealand, Wallis and Futuna, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia. Between his resignation and his death in 1875, Colin wrote Constitutions for the priests and brothers of the Society of Mary and for the Marist sisters. He also left a rich spiritual teaching. For this achievement, the Society regards him, despite his reluctance, as its Founder.

Une aventure de jeunes ! Jean-Claude Colin (1790-1875) et ses compagnons n'ont pas 30 ans lorsqu'ils décident de fonder une famille religieuse qui portera le nom de Marie. Ils appartiennent à la génération de la Révolution et de l'Empire. Et c'est dans leurs villages, dans leurs familles qu'ils ont vu les effets dévastateurs des bouleversements politiques. Ils ont l'intention d'aller dire à tous les hommes et femmes bousculés par les événements révolutionnaires que l'Eglise n'est pas morte, que l'Evangile a encore quelque chose à leur dire. Colin est persuadé qu'il faut changer les manières de faire, les méthodes, le langage de l'Eglise pour rencontrer ces chrétiens perturbés, découragés. Et comme si la tâche ne suffisait pas, il enverra les premiers maristes au bout du monde connu, en Océanie. Ils partent, comme Abraham, sans savoir où ils vont. Mais de quoi auraient-ils peur ? Marie est à la tête du groupe, c'est elle la " supérieure " des maristes ! 0

“15 Days of Prayer” Collection Now distributed by New City Press, this popular series is perfect for those looking for an introduction to a particular spiritual guide, those searching for gift ideas and those who merely wish to know more about the person and his or her spirituality. Additional volume planned in 2 to 3 months intervals. Each volume contains: • A brief biography of the saint or spiritual leader introduced in that volume • A guide to creating a format for prayer and retreat • 15 meditation sessions with focus points and reflection guides This volume, 15 Days of Prayer With Charles de Foucauld, will lead you, over a period of fifteen prayer sessions, to a place of prayer where a stronger relationship with God is possible. Follow the footsteps of Charles de Foucauld. From spoiled child to hero of God, the life of Charles de Foucauld is a model of how Christ’s love can transform a person’s soul. A rebellious child, Charles de Foucauld became a wild, pleasure-loving soldier in the French Army. But at 28, he experienced a spiritual transformation, rediscovering the Catholic faith of his childhood and accepting an “apostolate of goodness.” Charles left the life of a soldier for missionary work and believed that to love is the most powerful way to be loved. Serve the poor. A hermit who preferred the silence of solitude, Charles became a respected missionary in the remote Sahara concerned deeply about universal salvation. Believing that Christ did not come to earth primarily to teach but to share the human lot, Charles lived among those who were “furthest from God” and most rejected by men, sharing their lives and their hardships. In 1916, during an anti-French uprising, Charles was assassinated. Now Charles de Foucauld is remembered as not only a martyr for the France he loved but also for the God he adored. Enjoy your time with Charles de Foucauld and be prepared to be surprised as you journey with one of the most engaging spiritual figures of our time.

15 Days of Prayer with Blessed Frederic marks the 200th anniversary of Ozanam's birth. Verheyde's meditations reflect the breadth of Ozanam's interests: his love for his family; his desire to proclaim the faith authentically.