Keel003

Mary, the Support of the Church

Introduction

Jean-Claude Colin often spoke of Mary as the support of the Church at the beginning and at the end. This seems to be his way of referring to the inspiration Courveille experienced at Le Puy. Presented here is the dossier of texts gathered by J. Coste, S.M., in Acta Societatis Mariae, vol. 5, pp. 264-271. In several cases a wider context is offered than was needed for Coste’s purposes. These are marked with a (+) in the apparatus. At the end of the dossier is added a text of Fr. Peter Julian Eymard that also speaks of Mary as the support of the Church.

The support of the newborn Church and at the end of time

Text 3

c. 1839. Colin. Conversation with Mayet. [Coste text B (+) = Mayet 1, 458f = OM 482, 1-3]:

Text

“In our little chapel in Belley, I want to place St. Francis Regis and St. Francis Xavier, the first to be the patron of the Marist missionaries in the countryside, the other to be the patron of the Marist missionaries in the towns. We are the younger brothers of the Jesuits. There ought to be a strong union between the Jesuits and the Marists. This has already begun; I am very happy about it. The Jesuits look upon us with the greatest pleasure. This, I think, is due in part to the revelations which have been made concerning the Marists; the Jesuits do much spiritual direction, and I know that they have received confidences about a number of these revelations.” He then repeated to me what he had told us about this revelation where Mary said: “I was the support of the newborn Church; I shall be so in the last times.”