Title: A Heart That Knew No Bounds: The Life and Mission of Saint Marcellin Champagnat  Author: Sean D. Sammon, F.M.S. ISBN: 0-8189-0834-3  Paperback: xiv + 99 pp., illustrated  Price: $12.95 + shipping  To Order call:  1 800-343-ALBA (2522)  Please have your Master, Visa  or American Express card ready To order online click here.

At the canonization of Fr. Marcellin Benoît Champagnat on April 18, 1999, Pope John Paul II said of him that "in the midst of a world sometimes lacking the sense of God and despite countless difficulties, he remained faithful to Christ because of his unshakable faith. He was sensitive to the educational and spiritual needs of his time, especially to religious ignorance and the situations of neglect experienced in a particular way by the young." The Pope could have been speaking of our own times and the spiritual and educational needs of the youth of today. This book is the inspiring story of the life of this pioneer member and priest of the Society of Mary and founder of its Little Brothers (recognized worldwide today as the Institute of the Marist Brothers), and of the persons and events that shaped it.

 

Sean D. Sammon, F.M.S., Vicar General of the Marist Brothers and Past President of the U.S. Conference of Major Superiors of Men, holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fordham University. He is the author of a number of Alba House books including Alcoholism's Children (1989), An Undivided Heart: Making Sense of Celibate Chastity (1993) and Life After Youth: Making Sense of One Man's Journey through the Transition at Mid-life (1997). Alba House has also produced a number of his workshops on video and audio cassettes including Coping with the Genuinely Difficult Person; Alcoholism's Children; Fidelity; and An Undivided Heart.  Reviews "Canonized in 1999, Champagnat was an early member and priest of the Society of Mary and founder of its Little Brothers (the Institute of the Marist Brothers). Author Sammon is the Vicar General of the Marist Brothers and he presents in an easy-to-read manner the difficult times and life of St. Marcellin Champagnat. Born during the Revolution in France, he lived only fifty-one years. In the seminary, he was part of a group "made up of seminarians who were a familiar sight in the taverns of the town." Sammon writes for the modern temperament that needs to know the warts along with the shining myth. The heresy of Jansenism, a moral theology for the elect, influenced Marcellin's study for awhile. He began teaching and "by February 1822 the Institute was made up of ten brothers." There is the miracle in the snow, a serious illness from which he recovers, persistent financial problems for the schools, and an environment of increasing bitter anti-religious sentiment during the revolution in France. Simplicity and humility were Champagnat's outstanding virtues. This is the tale of a man growing past his problems to sainthood. Sammon writes with that same simplicity and humility, and with a fine erudition that moves comfortably from prayer to revolution, from submissiveness to the cry for social justice. Illuminating." -- The Book Reader, Fall/Winter 2000/2001 Top of Page