No father has ever loved his children more tenderly than Father Champagnat loved all his Brothers. He had a heart that was naturally kind and full of charity for men generally; but it overflowed with tendemess for the members of his Society. That love went out equally to them all: the young and the old; the imperfect and those who were the most virtuous or gave him the greatest consolation. None of them ever visited him or wrote to him without receiving some token of his affections. – Life

The Spiritual Testament was listened to with utmost attention and deep emotion. When the reading was over, the good Father added a few words to reinforce what had just been heard. Then the Brothers knelt down and asked his pardon, begging him to remember them before God. "How could I forget you!" exclaimed the pious Founder, his voice vibrant with emotion and tender affection. "That is impossible!" Brother Francis, having asked for his blessing on all the members of the Institute, present and absent, as well as on future members, he gave it very feelingly. With hands joined and eyes raised to heaven, before they lingered on his Brothers, he pronounced the usual formula very fervently, in feeble but deliberate accents. - Life

It is in the love of the Trinity that community life has its origin. The Father wants all people to form one single family in which all will be loved as brothers and sisters. Jesus established a community with the apostles and prayed that we might be one, as He and the Father are one. We answer the call of Christ by wanting to live together in a community of consecrated persons. Our unity shows that God is Love, and that this love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, is stronger than our human limitations. - C 47

He had been conversing for a short while one time with Brother Francis, when he turned towards him and asked how long they had been together; having got the reply that it was more than" twenty years, the good Father turned away, raised his eyes to heaven and, in profound recollection, seemed to offer a fervent prayer. "Father", continued Brother Francis soon afterwards, "it is my firm hope that if you must separate from us in body, you will always be close to us (and we to you), in mind and heart and that you will continue to be our Father."
"Oh, yes", came the reply, "if I have any influence with God and the Blessed Virgin, I shall use it all for the benefit of the Society." - Life

When the Brothers had gone, the Founder seemed very pleased with the whole proceedings. "I am grateful to God", he commented, "for the inspiration to make my Spiritual Testament. I am indeed glad that all the Brothers may know and read my last counsels and final wishes; that will strengthen them as well as delight them; besides, it is a consolation which I owe them because of the attachment they have for me." In fact, their affection could not have been greater. - Life

At twenty past four, his breathing slowed up and became more laboured and then spasmodic. The Brothers were at that time assembled in the chapel for the singing of the Salve Regina 26. The Litany of the Blessed Virgin was immediately begun, and during its recital, without effort or struggle, the pious Founder fell asleep in the Lord. His death took place on Saturday, June 6th, the vigil of Pentecost. He had declared several times during his sickness: "I would like to die on a Saturday, but I don't deserve that favour, while I do hope for it from Mary's kindness." Not only was he given that grace, but also another: he died at the time, which for thirty years he had devoted to meditation and to union with God. It was during the prayer which followed the Salve Regina that the Mother of Mercy led him from exile to the fatherland, and showed him Jesus, the fruit of her virginal womb. - Life

His death plunged the community into deep sorrow, but the prolonged suffering of the Founder had prepared them for this painful sacrifice. Besides, they were so convinced of his holiness that their feeling of grief was mitigated by the firmness of their belief that his sufferings had been transformed into an immense weight of glory. After his death, he was shaved and washed then dressed in soutane, surplice and stole; his profession cross was put in his hand and he was placed on view in an armchair in his own room. At his side, was a small table with his breviary, his biretta, pictures of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin, and two lighted candles. - Life

On the very day that he died, his portrait was drawn by an artist especially summoned for the purpose. Sunday evening, his body, clad in priestly soutane, was put in a leaden coffin and enclosed in a strong oaken one. The body was still perfectly supple. Before the leaden coffin was closed, a heart-shaped leaden plaque was inserted, in the presence of Father Matricon, chaplain, and of Brothers Francis, John-Mary, Louis and Stanislaus. On it was inscribed: The Bones of M.J.B. Champagnat, 1840. The funeral ceremony took place on Monday, June 8th; almost all the priests of the district and the leading citizens of Saint-Chamond were present. The coffin was carried to the vault by the professed Brothers, taking turns. Wrung with grief, they mingled their tears with the prayers they offered for the one they mourned. - Life

As soon as Father Champagnat was dead, Brother Francis wrote a circular letter I to the Brothers to announce the sad news. "My dear Brothers", he said to them, "on Saturday, June 6th, at half past four in the morning, our venerated Father Superior fell asleep peacefully in the Lord after a mild death struggle lasting three quarters of an hour. On this sad occasion, we invite you to join your tears and hopes with our own. Let us weep for a loving Father, a worthy Superior and Founder, a holy priest 2, our mainstay, our guide and our comforter. Yes, we weep, because death has carried off one who was so well able to share all our difficulties, who so skilfully guided our steps along the path of salvation. His life of penance, of labour, of good works, zeal and devotedness, has been brought to a close by a long and painful sickness. - Life

However, it was especially in the Blessed Sacrament that he delighted to display his love for Jesus Christ. The intensity of his faith in the Real Presence made one feel that he saw Christ face to face in the ineffable mystery… While he was curate at La Valla, he never failed to visit the Blessed Sacrament after dinner and he made a point of visiting Our Lord before and after each time he was obliged to be absent from the house to visit the sick or to carry out any other business. … You can be quite sure that he inculcated the same devotion in his Brothers, calling it the first of all devotions. - Life

Barnabas means "son of encouragement" or "son of consolation". He was a Levite Jew, a native of Cyprus, and this was his nickname. Having settled in Jerusalem, he was one of the first to embrace Christianity after the Lord's Resurrection. With immense generosity, he sold a field which belonged to him, and gave the money to the Apostles for the Church's needs. It was he who vouched for the sincerity of Saul's conversion before the Jerusalem community that still feared its former persecutor. - Benedict XVI, 31.01.07

His death, like his life was full of edification, and we are quite confident that it was precious in God's sight. Let us take consolation and courage, my very dear Brothers, from that thought! We have lost a protector on earth; but he will be more efficacious and more powerful in heaven with Mary- to whom he entrusted us all at his death. It is our task now to take up his last, touching advice and to follow it with care; it is up to us to make him live on in each one of us, by imitating the virtues which we admire in him." - Life

Faithfully heeding the advice of their new Superior, the Brothers did not let their deep affliction on the death of their Founder, degenerate into discouragement. They understood that the best way to show their love and filial piety towards their tender Father was not to give themselves up to a sterile grief; it was to imitate his example, preserve and perpetuate his spirit and continue his work. The high esteem they had for his virtue, did not prevent them from offering fervent prayers for the repose of his soul. - Life

When Father Champagnat died, there were a lot of people who had doubts about the future of his work and its stability. Would the Brother chosen to succeed him be equal to that onerous task? Would the Brothers really accept his authority willingly? Would the Rules of the Institute be clearly enough defined and its government firmly enough exercised, to ensure its survival and its development? Were the Brothers sufficiently attached to their vocation and adequately grounded in virtue? Were the y experienced enough to govern themselves unaided? Would the y preserve the spirit of the Founder, adhere to the principles he had given them and tread the path he had traced out for them? Such were the questions being raised. Time has provided answers that redound greatly to the credit of the Brothers. Indeed, the y were full of esteem and respect for the Superior whom they had chosen; they gave him their total confidence and made it their prime concern to give proof of their perfect submission. - Life

Father Champagnat was the architect of the new building; he ordered everything and directed everyone. Those Brothers and postulants most endowed with skill and strength did the masonry work with him and carried the heaviest loads; the others brought up the stones and made the mortar. This was of rich clay, without lime or sand. In fact, everyone was busy and happily worked away, each according to his strength, at building what the y regarded as the cradle of the Institute. Marcellin was always the first to begin work, he laboured without respite, and was usually last to leave. – Life

May that good Mother keep you safe, give you increase, and bring you to holiness. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you. I leave you all with confidence in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary until we be all united again in a happy eternity. - Spiritual Testament

That lively faith which animated him was the source of the strength and energy which caused his instructions to be so moving and to be listened to with such attention and pleasure. He gave the impression that he actually saw with his eyes, and touched with his hands, the truths of religion, since he was so penetrated with them and spoke of them with such conviction. In conversation and in interviews with Brothers, he often gave voice to those exclamations or to those rejoinders which were inspired by the liveliness of his faith and which went right to the heart, leaving indelible impressions. - Life

Enlightened by this spirit of faith, he was fully aware of his own weakness, of the nothingness of creatures and the inadequacy of merely human means. So, he relied entirely on God for the success of his enterprises. Of course, he did make use of human means, knowing that these, too, enter the designs of Providence; but he counted on God alone for the result. "We are really wasting our time", he would sometimes say, "if we expect the success of our works from our own efforts, from our talents, from our industry or from men: only God can give us that success; for our part, we are fit only to spoil matters." - Life

Father Champagnat's style was very simple but elevated; he had a vigour of expression and a tone of conviction; he spoke in passionate words and with animated countenance: his whole manner denoted a man filled with the spirit of God; and that was what moved the Brothers and made his instructions interesting to them, so that they preferred to listen to him than to the sermons of the most distinguished preachers. - Life

Prayer was his element, and he gave himself to it with so much ease and happiness that it appeared quite natural to him. Besides the community prayers, holy Mass and the Office of the Church, he spent a considerable time in converse with God. It was for this reason that he rose so early, for, being very busy during the day, he had to encroach on his sleeping time to satisfy his piety and the need he felt to treat with God. - Life

Pious Brothers, he asserted, are valuable men of inestimable worth; they are the pillars of the lnstitute; the more of them we .have, the stronger the Society will be and the more blessed by God. - Life

"A further advantage of the presence of God", according to Father Champagnat, " is that it inspires us with great courage and equal zeal to work at our perfection. No sacrifice is too costly when we think of what God has done for us.” - Life

Looking on the Blessed Virgin as his Mother and as the path which would lead him to Jesus, he placed under her protection, his studies, his vocation and all his plans; he consecrated himself to her every day and offered her all his actions so that she might deign to present them to her divine Son. It was in one of his frequent visits to the Blessed Virgin that the idea struck him of founding a congregation of pious teachers 3 and of naming it after the one who had inspired it. Faithful to his resolution of always going to Jesus through Mary, on leaving the seminary after ordination, he made his way to Fourvières in order to consecrate his ministry to the Blessed Virgin; and each time that business took him to Lyon, he visited the shrine of Fourvières to renew that offering and that consecration, at Mary's feet. - Life

It was his love for Jesus Christ, which inspired Marcellin's burning zeal to promote his glory; it was this too, which led him on all occasions to exhort his Brothers insistently, to study that divine Saviour and to make him known and loved. His instructions returned to that point. "To make Our Lord known and loved", he repeated incessantly, "is the aim of our vocation and the whole purpose of the Institute. If we were to fail in this purpose, our congregation would be useless and God would withdraw his protection from it. - Life

Whenever Father Champagnat had a difficult matter to deal with, when he suffered opposition or had some other unpleasant experience, his refuge was Jesus in the Blessed Sacramento At his feet, he scrutinized everything that was to be done and he took no decision, not even the least important, without having first recommended the matter to him. "We are going to submit all that to Our Lord", he would explain on such occasions, "at Mass, at Holy Communion and during the visits we make to him; then we shall see what is to be done." - Life

Once Father Champagnat had put any matter in Mary's hands, he remained at peace and full of confidence, whatever turn things might seem to take. "Have no fear", he would insist, "appearances are against us but Mary will arrange everything; she will be able to ward off difficulties, and control events, turning them to our advantage." The remarkable thing is that his confidence was never misplaced. Hence, in every need, in all difficult circumstances, he had recourse to Mary; he wanted to be indebted for everything to her alone, after God; it was from her protection that he expected everything and his favourite expression was: "Mary is our ORDINARY RESOURCE." - Life

Neither the success of his lnstitute, nor the outstanding good which his Brothers accomplished and which won the praise of all, did anything to change the lowly opinion he had of himself. "The foundation of the lnstitute and its progress", he reiterated constantly, "are the work of God and not ours; it is he who has done everything; it is to Mary that we owe this blessing and all our success. As for us, we are capable only of spoiling what God entrusts to us, and we should never cease praying to him not to give up protecting the community, because of our failings." - Life

His love of work and especially his humility, led him to put his hand to every task. Re would construct a wall with the masons, or a partition with the plasterers; make a piece of furniture or lay a floor with the carpenters; hew stones with the labourers; work in the garden; clear a field, haul stones or transport manure: it was all one to him; no task was too menial for him; and the work that he did was always notable for the amount he accomplished and for the stamp of his skill on il. The strongest workmen admitted that it was impossible to compete with him and that he always out-worked any one of them. Ris example was a spur to the laziest; all worked hard when he was present and no one dared remain idle or refuse a task, no matter how laborious or lowly it might be. - Life

Peter's rash generosity does not protect him, however, from the risks connected with human weakness. Moreover, it is what we too can recognize in our own lives. Peter followed Jesus with enthusiasm, he overcame the trial of faith, abandoning himself to Christ. The moment comes, however, when he gives in to fear and falls: he betrays the Master. The school of faith is not a triumphal march but a journey marked daily by suffering and love, trials and faithfulness. Peter, who promised absolute fidelity, knew the bitterness and humiliation of denial: the arrogant man learns the costly lesson of humility. Peter, too, must learn that he is weak and in need of forgiveness. Once his attitude changes and he understands the truth of his weak heart of a believing sinner, he weeps in a fit of liberating repentance. After this weeping he is finally ready for his mission. – Benedict XVI, 24.05.06

You know with certainty, he wrote to the Brothers of one house, that I love you in Jesus Christ; that is why 1 ardently desire that you love one another, as children of the same Father, who is God, of the same Mother, who is the Church; in a word, as children of Mary. Could this divine Mother be indifferent to the fact that we carry ill-will in our hearts or even antipathy against one of her Brothers whom she loves perhaps more than she loves us? Oh! I beg you, let us not cause that pain and sorrow to her motherly heart. - Life