The Marists of Champagnat Star of the Sea Province came into existence on 8 December 2022.

 

It was formed by the reconfiguration of three previous Administrative Units: The District of the Pacific, the District of Melanesia and the Province of Australia. It is now the newest of the 25 Provinces or Districts that comprise the Marist Brothers, an International Religious Institute of the Catholic Church founded in 1817 by St Marcellin Champagnat SM. To distinguish our particular Institute from other branches of the Marist Family, such as the Marist Fathers, the Marist Sisters or the Marist Missionary Sisters, we tend to use the nomenclature, Champagnat Marists or Marists of Champagnat.

 

The Marists of Champagnat first arrived in Oceania in 1837 when they comprised members of the first Marist missionaries who were sent from France. In ensuing decades, they established themselves in their own right in various locations across the Pacific. They devoted themselves to their mission of educating and evangelising young people and, in so doing, established schools wherever they went. The newest part of the Province is East Timor where the Marists of Champagnat arrived in 2000.

 

Our Province covers the life and work of the Champagnat Marists in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Cambodia, East Timor, Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

 

The Leader of the Province, titled the Provincial, is located in Sydney, Australia. However there are also offices in Auckland and Port Moresby.  

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