The Third Order of Mary

IN ITS ORIGINAL CONCEPTION, the Society of Mary was to have several branches. Alongside the priestly branch, there would be not only religious sisters and brothers, but also Marist laity. The latter would be called the Third Order of Mary.

But what is this lay branch of the Society of Mary? What is this Third Order of Mary? Was it to be a pale replica of religious life lived in the world? A small band of the elite who were to act as a leaven among lesser members of the laity? Not for Fr. John Claude Colin, the founder of the Marist Fathers.

For Fr. Colin the lay branch was precisely the vehicle for effecting the universal mission of mercy of the Society of Mary. He says: "The Society has three branches because Mary wants to cover the whole earth with her mantle." Or again, "Mary is mother of mercy. Her body shall have three branches." One day someone reminded Fr. Colin that he had said that the whole world must be Marist." He replied that the congregation of Jesus (Jesuits) is a simple and non-complex body of priests. "With the Jesuits," he said, "you must have talents and many other things. In the congregation of the Blessed Virgin, it is not so. She is the mother of mercy. Her congregation will have several branches. It will be open to all kinds of people."

So it is through the lay branch of the Society of Mary, sometimes called the Third Order of Mary, that Fr. Colin saw Mary's care being extended to everyone. It was through the lay branch that Mary's challenge to be apostles of mercy for the salvation of souls is tendered not only to priests and sisters but to every member of the Church.

This idea of a "whole world Marist," is not the passing thought of a young and exuberant Colin. He repeats the phrase throughout his life. At the height of his powers in 1833, he said: "Gentlemen, please ask God to send someone to spread the Third Order in the whole world... I need someone with apostolic zeal filled with the spirit of God who can preach in apostolic style." At the age of 82, he said to the Marists assembled in General Chapter:"I have a great ambition: it is to take over the whole world under Mary's wings in the Third Order."

The Third Order is made up of many fraternities of members who meet, often once a month to pray and plan together. Other persons may be members-at-large. All participate in the graces that come through the religious congregation of Marists. But it is clear that for Fr. Colin the Third Order or other lay Marist groups must not be thought of as sodalities or prayer groups. Pray they must, and fervently, but their vision must be much more apostolic and all-embracing.

Colin's view of the Third Order, despite the rather static name, was that of a great affiliation of people from all walks of life, a Marian people of mercy. It was to be the entire Church, but this Church transformed into a people of mercy through the influence of Mary and those in the world who professed to make her present in today's world. "The whole world Marist," repeated Fr. Colin. This was not a mere throwaway line, a bumper-sticker, a slogan. It was the expression of a Marian vision offered to the modern world -- a vision still in search of a strategy.

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