MARIN, MICHEL-ANGE. - Writer and historian of the Minims, born in Marseilles on 23 Dec. 1697, died there on 3 Apr. 1767. He entered the Order at Avignon, where for many years he was professor of philosophy and theology. As a spiritual director, he encouraged laypeople to practice spiritual exercises, and to facilitate young women he founded the Soeurs de la Retraite, with rules inspired by the spirit of Sts. Ignatius and Francis de Sales.
A fine man of letters, he published many ascetical-moral works in the form of novels, so that Christian morality might be seen in the actions of the chosen hero.
Among others worthy of mention are: *Conduite spirituelle de la soeur Violet* (Avignon 1740); *Virginie ou la vierge chrétienne* (ibid. 1752); *Theodule ou l'enfant de bénédiction* (ibid. 1767; often reprinted, including in Italian), etc. He left an excellent work of Catholic apologetics: *Le baron de van Hesden, ou la République des incrédules* (5 vols., Toulouse 1762). Important is his scholarly collection *Vies des pères des desertes d'Orient, avec leur doctrine spirituelle et leur discipline monastique* (3 vols., Avignon 1761; 9 vols., ibid. 1764, Lyons 1824). This work received three laudatory briefs from Clement XIII, who urged the author to collect all the acts of the martyrs into a single corpus; Marin began the new work, but died having completed only two volumes. His *Lettres ascétiques et morales* were published posthumously in 2 vols. (Avignon 1769).