Today Today the Society, with its Generalate in Rome, operates in five Provinces: Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Oceania, and USA, along with five mission districts: Africa (Senegal and Cameroun), South America (Brazil and Peru), Asia (The Philippines and Thailand), Australia and Mexico. The European Provinces, Districts, and Delegations (England, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Norway) reconfigured in 2008 and formed the new European Province. The Provinces in the United States (Atlanta and Boston) became one Province (USA) on January 1, 2009. There are around 500 Marists worldwide.
Foundation Colin was assigned after ordination to
Cerdon where he was assistant to the pastor, his elder brother Pierre. There Jean-Claude Colin began drafting a tentative rule for the group of priests and with
Jeanne-Marie Chavoin founded the Sisters of the Holy Name of Mary, later called
Marist Sisters. The reception from the ecclesiastical authorities in
Lyon was decidedly cool since the diocese was afraid of losing priests from its control, given the dramatic local needs. For this reason, little progress could be made toward the foundation of the priests' branch as a religious congregation until
Cerdon, Colin's parish, passed from the jurisdiction of Lyon Diocese to a revived diocese of
Belley. In 1823, Bishop Devie of
Belley authorised Colin and a few companions to resign their parish duties and form into a travelling missionary band for the rural districts. Their zeal and success in that difficult work moved the bishop to entrust them also with the conduct of his minor
seminary, thus enlarging the scope of their work. However, little progress could be made toward the foundation of a true religious congregation, since like the Lyons authorities, Bishop Devie wanted at most a diocesan institute only, while Fr. Colin was averse to such a limitation. This came near placing the nascent institute in jeopardy. From its definitive organisation the Society of Mary developed in and out of France, along the various lines of its constitutions . In France it did mission work in various centres. When educational liberty was restored to French Catholics, it also entered the field of secondary or "college" education, its methods being embodied in Montfat's "''Théorie et pratique de l'education chrétienne''" (Paris, 1880). It also assumed the direction of a few diocesan seminaries together with professorships in Catholic
universities. The French province also supplied men for the various missions undertaken abroad by the Society of Mary. In
Great Britain, the Marist foundations began as early as 1850 at the request of
Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman,
Archbishop of Westminster, but have not grown beyond three colleges and five parishes. In the
United States, the Society of Mary took a firmer hold. From
Louisiana, whither Archbishop Odin called them in 1863 to take charge of a French parish and college, the Marists passed into eleven states and branched off into
Mexico, and, although continuing to minister to a number of French speaking communities, did not limit their action there but took up other ministries and apostolates. They operate the Lourdes Center in
Boston,
Massachusetts, established in 1950 by
Richard Cardinal Cushing and
Bishop Pierre-Marie Theas to distribute
Lourdes water in the United States. By the beginning of the 19th century Christian churches were well established in the Americas, Europe, and Australia. Christian evangelization efforts turned to Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The
Holy See, keen to establish the Catholic faith in this area, entrusted its evangelization efforts of Oceania to the
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Picpus Fathers). Subsequently the territory was divided, so that the
Holy See assigned a Vicariate Apostolic of Eastern Oceania (including
Tahiti, the
Marquesas, and Hawaii) to the Picpus Fathers, and established a Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania (including
Micronesia,
Melanesia, Fiji,
New Zealand, Samoa, and
Tonga) which was assigned to the Society of Mary (Marists). It was as a result of some preliminary contacts with Rome that this missionary task was proposed to the Marists, and upon their acceptance
Pope Gregory XVI, by a Brief of April 29, 1836, formally approved the "Priests of the Society of Mary" or Marist Fathers as a religious institute with simple vows and under a
Superior General. The Little Brothers of Mary and the Sisters of the Holy Name of Mary, commonly called Marist Brothers and
Marist Sisters, were not included but were to be separate institutes. Father Colin was elected Superior General on September 24, 1836, and on that same day the first Marist religious professions took place. Along with Colin the first professed included two who would become saints:
Saint Peter Chanel, S.M., martyred on the island of
Futuna, and
Saint Marcellin Champagnat, S.M., founder of the
Marist Brothers. == Superiors General of the Society of Mary ==