On January 09, 1825, Fathers Jean-Claude Colin and Etienne Déclas strode from the presbytery of Cerdon high in the Bugey mountains of eastern France to climb to the village of La Balme. This was to be the first renewal mission to be preached by the infant Society of Mary.
The La Balme mission, lasting for three weeks in the depths of a Bugey winter, was followed by many more in subsequent decades as the Catholic Church recovered from the assaults of the French Revolution.
Marist historian and biographer, Father Justin Taylor SM, describes the beginning of the mission in chapter 7 of 'Jean-Claude Colin, Reluctant Founder':
(Audio Available)
