A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MARIST BROTHERS IN MALAWI
The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brothers with the goal of educating young people, especially those most neglected. While most of the brothers minister in school settings, others work with young people in parishes, religious retreats and spiritual accompaniment, at-risk youth settings, young adult ministry and overseas missions.
Marist Brothers in Malawi
1939 At the request of Bishop J. Chichester (a Jesuit) from Harare, the first Canadian Marist Brothers arrived in Africa in Southern Rhodesia; now Zimbabwe to take responsibility of the Teacher Training College at Kutama.
1943 Contacts between the Marist Brothers at Kutama and the Bishop Julien of what is now the Archdiocese of Lilongwe were established through Fr. Jolin; an ex-Marist pupil at Waterloo in Canada who was then the Secretary to the Bishop of Lilongwe.
Bishop Julien requested the Superior of the Marist Brothers for a few Brothers to take over the management of schools that up to that time were administered by the White Fathers.
1945 Bishop Julien visited the Provincial House of Levis in Canada and an agreement was reached with the Superior
1945-6 Br Benuele DeKort built the school at Mtendere
1946 The Brothers were officially invited to Malawi from Zimbabwe by the then Bishop of the Lilongwe Diocese, Bishop Fady. Mtendere mission station, now Mtendere secondary school on the Mtendere Campus, was the cradle of the Brothers in Malawi.
Two Brothers came from Kutama: Br Dominic A. Gobeil and Br Peter Eugen Boucher. Br Dominic came first and gave a hand at Kasina Seminary
Two other Brothers come directly from Canada: Br John Luke Lachance and Adolph Andrew Pineault
September: Brothers settled in part of the school building
December: classes begun
1949 Opening of Mtendere Juniorate on a piece of land bought from the then Likuni Vicariate. The school started with upper primary school level by Br John Luke and Leo Laflamme. In 1997, the school transformed into a private school and was christened to Marist Secondary School
1952 A secondary school section, up to JC level is added to the original school. At Independence, the school develops toa full double-stream secondary school and is named Mtendere Secondary School.
The primary section is moved to the present site near the Parish buildings
1954 At the request of the Monfort Fathers at Zomba Catholic Secondary School, the Marist Brothers took over the running of the school in 1954, and they are still managing this school on behalf of Zomba Diocese
1964 Champagnat House is built in stages as post-secondary formation house: postulancy/novitiate.
At one stage, ARIMA rented the premises for 3 years.
Since 1984, the place is used for the postulancy program.
1997 St. Charles Lwanga Secondary School in Balaka was the last centre to receive Marist Brothers. The Montfort Fathers in Mangochi Diocese invited the Brothers to work at Balaka.
2021 Since their arrival in the country, the Marist Brothers have been working in schools and Teacher Training colleges.
The Marist Brothers, together with lay people are currently running 4 secondary schools, three of which belong to Dioceses (Marist, Likuni Boys’, St Charles Lwanga, Zomba Catholic Secondary Schools)
We thank God for the many graces he has lavishly bestowed on us over the years. We are proud of the many people that have gone through our schools and serving this beautiful Republic in various capacities. For instance, the current President and Vice President are ex-Marist students.
There are 34 Marist Brothers in Malawi
We Celebrate God’s Love and Fidelity