JEAN-CLAUDE COLIN, Venerable. — Founder of the Society of Mary (Marist Fathers), born at St-Bonnet-le-Troncy (Lyons) on 7 Aug. 1790, died on 15 Nov. 1875 at Notre-Dame-de-la-Neylière, near the Rhône. Ordained priest on 25 July 1816, he was elected coadjutor to his brother Pierre, parish priest at Cerdon, where his parochial zeal did not make him forget his aspiration to found a society dedicated to the honour and name of Mary. On 25 Jan. 1822 Pius VII praised his project, and on 22 June 1825 the two brothers, having left the parish, went to Belley and devoted themselves with fruit to the work of parochial missions. In 1829 the Venerable was entrusted with the direction of the minor seminary at Belley, which he held until 1845. Having received as a gift an ex-Capuchin convent, he began his true religious life.
With the brief Omnium gentium, Pope Gregory XVI approved the Society of Mary (21 Apr. 1836), and on 5 Sept. 1836 at Belley the Fathers made their vows and elected C. as Superior General. He infused life into the Society by founding houses and colleges, accepting the direction of seminaries; he promoted the Marist Brothers Institute founded by C. Champagnat, who had joined him; founded (1826) the Congregation of Marist Sisters for the education of young women, and obtained permission to establish a Marist Third Order (brief of Pius IX, 8 Sept. 1850). The Venerable C., accepting the invitation of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, sent missionaries in 1850 to the remote islands of Oceania, inhabited by savages, where several found the palm of martyrdom, among them the apostle of Futuna, Bl. Peter L. Chanel.
He resigned the office of Superior for reasons of health in 1854; he composed his Constitutions, in which he fixed the Marian spirit to which his sons must conform; these were approved by Pius IX on 28 Feb. 1873. He left many letters of spiritual direction. His cause of beatification was introduced on 9 Dec. 1908.