Context on the second key documentThis Document in ten sections records Colin’s words during a table conversation about the Third Order at La Capucinière, Belley; Mayet includes it in his Memoirs. It can be dated from the beginning of summer, 1838, probably sometime before August, because the Archconfraternity of the Holy Heart of Mary [mentioned in Section 3] was begun in Paris, on 25 December 1836, by Father Dufriche-Desgenelles, pastor of Notre-Dame-des- Victoires, and approved and established as an Archconfraternity by Gregory XVI’s Brief of 14 April 1838. The conversation might have taken place in June 1838, thus allowing time for the Brief to be sent, the news of it to spread abroad and Colin to receive the rule book from Paris. In Section 10 Colin speaks of the Brief (actually three Briefs) that he had received for the Confraternity at Belley from Gregory XVI, the first dated 12 August, and the other two, 14 August, 1834; he says he had kept them in his briefcase for three years. This places the conversation before August 1838, the fourth anniversary of the receipt of the Briefs. Mayet records Colin’s words, reproducing his conversational style, as he reminisces about the simple way 30 he acted on his first visit to Rome in 1833. The material is not presented in a logical ordered sequence of events, but is a series of facts loosely strung together. The content of the ten sections is as follows:
(2) This is an account of the actual way Colin acted in Rome, the conversation with Cardinal Castracane and its outcome: the three Briefs for the Third Order at Belley. A section has been inserted here by Mayet, which I will explain more fully later. (3) This section describes the similar idea of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Heart of Mary, recently approved by the Pope. Colin has been sent its rule book and this reminds him that he still has the papers (Briefs) containing approbation of the Third Order in Belley. It is clear that Bishop Devie of Belley has seen them, but he seems afraid that the Third Order will draw people away from the cathedral parish. Colin wisely has not asked the Bishop to countersign them at that time. (4) Here we have Colin’s feeling that if a choice had to be made between the Paris Archconfraternity and the Marist Confraternity, he would choose the former. 5)-(6) Some further facts are set out about the advantages of the Marist Confraternity: (7) Colin gives two other reasons to prefer it: harmony between other faithful Christians and the Society and the fact that Marist missionaries would spread and promote it. (Is there a hint here of its disappearance into the Church and its spread throughout the world?) (8) Colin is asked by someone: why not begin it in Lyon since it cannot be established in Belley? His reply is: not in Belley or Lyon, but everywhere. Again the universal global thrust is seen. (9) Colin speaks of the necessity, if the Confraternity is established in Lyon, of using prudence, especially regarding the role of the parish priests in it, and the central register, which should be kept by the Society itself, to give unity and credibility. (10) Finally, he speaks of the many tasks of the parish priests. Colin returns to the Briefs and the necessity of obtaining the Bishop’s permission before acting on anything. The whole Document is handled quite casually, and we sense Colin’s goodhumoured, happy tone as he expresses his satisfaction at having succeeded as much as could be expected during his first visit to Rome. By now the Priests’ Branch of the Society of Mary has been approved (in 1836) and has taken on the missions of Western Oceania. However, there is a certain irony that, despite Castracane’s opposition and fear of the political consequences of such a vast project under a single Superior General, the only immediate result of that 1833 visit was the receipt of three Briefs for the Third Order at Belley. Notwithstanding Colin’s vagueness and the lack of order in this Document, he introduces to his audience of Marist aspirants (La Capucinière was a house of formation) quite a number of the key ideas and some details not found in the first Document, the Summarium. These will be expressed more clearly and fully in the Constitutions of the Confraternity of 1873 and will be faithfully stated in Cozon’s Postulatum to the 1880 General Chapter, the high point of which is the synthesis of Colin’s thought and vision for the Lay Branch, found in Doc 31, Number 20. |
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