Part 4: A beginning So, it was that Jeanne-Marie Chavoin set out probably in the late summer of 1817 for the village of Cerdon, a considerable distance from Coutouvre. We will never know what was going through her mind or even what it was in Pierre Colin’s letter that finally captured her interest and motivated her to take such a difficult journey into the unknown.

A significant meeting Here in the Cerdon Presbytery Jeanne-Marie Chavoin met Jean-Claude Colin for the first time. Supported by his brother, Pierre, Jean-Claude shared his vision for a new form of religious life. No doubt he told Jeanne-Marie about his own search for God’s will, how he wanted to be a priest, but was seeking a different way from what he observed – a way which shunned power, prestige or greed. Surely Jeanne-Marie was able to identify with his story. She too had searched for another way of serving God. As we have seen, she too desired a hidden style of holiness.

The Marist Project… Jean-Claude would have talked of the group at the seminary in Lyon who believed they were called by Mary herself to form a society in her name, whose members would be called Marists. He would have described what took place at the Marian shrine of Fourvière on 23 July 1816 (the year before) - when twelve of the group, just ordained as priests, pledged to begin what they called the Society of Mary. But the idea went further – there were to be women religious too, as well as lay people – indeed it would be like a tree with many branches.

A clear path… So, following the meeting, Jeanne-Marie returned home, shared everything with Marie and with her family. Suddenly the way was clear and as she said some years later: “We left home and family to start the Society of the Blessed Virgin.” RMJ 101.7