The Marist Brothers (FMS: Fratres Maristae a Scholis), founded in France in 1817 by St. Marcellin Champagnat, is the second largest congregation of Brothers in the Church. 

An encounter with a dying boy, Jean-Baptiste Montagne, age 17 who knew nothing of his faith and barely able to read proved to be the defining moment for Marcellin Champagnat.  Soon after the boy’s death, St. Marcellin put into motion an idea he had while in the seminary.  “We need brothers,” he said who will give their lives in the service of children and young people especially those most in need and least favored by society.

Champagnat, a man of great faith and trust in God's providence, dedicated his early followers to the Blessed Virgin, sending them among young people, especially those least favored to "make Jesus known and loved."  The initial focus of his work was in schools, as education was a pressing need at the time and because it would afford us an opportunity for evangelization.

Today the community numbers about 4,000 members.  They are joined by a network of nearly 40,000 lay people working alongside the brothers and reaching over 500,000 children and young people in 79 countries.  You will find these Marist, religious and lay, working in schools and universities, in pastoral and social centers, in youth movements and youth programs and… wherever young people can be found.