The Marist Brothers were founded by French curate Marcellin Champagnat in the early 19th century to provide education for the children of peasants who were struggling to rebuild their lives after the Napoleonic wars. Marcellin was himself raised on a farm and was used to hard work and an extremely simple lifestyle, so took those values into the Order he founded.
In 1872, the Marists responded to a call from the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney to open schools in the poorer city areas of Sydney. Their earliest school was at St Patrick's in The Rocks area, which was soon followed by elementary schools in the Haymarket, Broadway and Parramatta areas and a boarding school in Sydney.
In 1902 the Marist Brothers formed the Province of Australasia. In 1917 this split into the Province of Australia and the Province of New Zealand. In 1948 another split created separate provinces in Melbourne and Sydney. At the end of 2012 the Province of Australia was reconstituted.
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Last updated:
09 November 2021
Cite this: http://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/nsw/NE00136
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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