Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945
FIELD EDUCATION OF MONFORT BROTHERS IN PONDICHERRY, INDIA - A CASE STUDY.
JAMES WILLIAM M AND RAJENDRAN A
Department of History Bishop Heber college (Autonomous) Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli- 620017. [email protected] [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Montfort world have planned a project to give training to some men to follow his footsteps. This desire is noticed in his ardent prayer. In 1713 Montfort wrote a Rule for his disciples. The first Brother to join Montfort was brother Mathurin in 1705. The other brother, he met later on, were called Jean, Pierre, Jacques, Nicholas, Philippe, Louis and Gabriel. A school was stared in October 1714. in July and August 1715, Montfort spent almost six weeks in a place called La Rochelle, France, to open a school for boys, then one for girls. He entrusted the latter to Marie Louise Trichet, the first sister in the congregation he had started “Daughters of Wisdom”. During the second half of April 1716, Montfort fell ill and on April 27 he dictated his last will to Fr.Rene Mulot, which is first of all, a distribution of his little material possessions. From the study of Montfortian Educational system has a duty to make a critical analysis of the social system, to focus attention on its internal contradictions and on the gap between slogans and practice, and to highlight the need for structural changes where necessary, including those needed within the educational system itself. Education thus play a useful role in promoting the desire for a radical social change and also help in deciding the nature of such change as well as the manner of bringing it about. People are the most important resource. Competent and motivated people can make things happen and enable Montfortian educational system to achieve its goals.
Key words: Montfortian, Education, Pondicherry.
1. Introduction On January 31, 1673 Louis Marie Grignion was born in Montfort-sur-Meu, a village 13
miles east of Rennes in France. His father Jean Baptiste Grignion, a lawyer by profession and
mother Jeanne Robert a godly woman was instrumental in reinforcing the Christian faith. Early
Though in 1685 he entered St. Thomas Becket College, the vivacity of the young people
there and their turbulent lives did not affect Louis. His Christian foundation and love for God led
him to choose the path of priesthood. He was ordained in the Sulpician order embracing poverty,
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pain, fatigue and humility.
Carrying a torch for Jesus, Louis, now Montfort touched the lives of the poor and rejected
people with love and kindness. In the meantime Montfort requested an audience with the Pope
seeking Papal approval to minister in far-off countries like Canada and India. On June 6, 1706
Pope Clement XI appreciated his zeal and conferred the title „Apostolic Missionary‟. But to his
disappointment, Montfort was directed to exercise his ministerial gifts in France. Since his Papal
visit, Montfort passionately served sixteen years on foot, preaching and ministering in 200
Parishes. On April 5, 1716 he along with Bro. Gabriel, Fr. Mulot and the Parish Priest of St.
Pompain started a mission in St. Laurent-Sur-Sevre. Consequently on April 22, he was taken ill a
holding the Crucifix blessed by the Pope, in his right hand and a small statue of Our Lady in his
left hand breathed his last, five days later.
1.1 Montfort’s Vision The poor are Christ‟s close friends, His chosen few, his delegates, His elders, that is, those
to whom the inheritance will come; and much more than that, poor are Jesus Christ Himself.
1.2 Montfortian Spirituality The Love of Eternal Wisdom may be considered as Montfort‟s anthology or Thesaurus of
Spirituality while the True Devotion is an elaboration of his experience of the Divine and Incarnate
Wisdom of the Father.
Spirituality is an expression of one‟s faith. Montfort‟s family background, his education,
his daily prayerful study of the Bible, the diversity of his readings, his missionary travels all play
an important part in the understanding and expression of this faith. What is the basis of this
spirituality, which can be called particularly Montfortian? One quality can be ascertained by virtue
of the diversity of his sources, and this quality can be called as electro. The core of this spirituality
is the reality of our baptismal insertion into Christ Jesus.
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The Baptism into Christ, the Incarnate and Eternal Wisdom, is another hallmark of
Montfortian Spirituality. He did not think this abstractly but translated it into practice and made
the people renew their Baptismal vows at the end of the missions he preached. This mandate was
given to him by, the Pope himself.
Pope John Paul II endorses this in no uncertain terms “Grignion de Montfort introduces us
into the very heart of the mysteries on which our faith lives, grows and bears fruit.” This
identification with Christ leads automatically to another of Montfort principle of Spirituality the
total dependence on Divine Providence, in imitation of Christ who, “emptying himself took the
form of a slave”.
Slavery therefore has for Montfort the evangelical connotation that we are the Lord‟s. He
by becoming man gave himself unto the death on the Cross for the redemption of the world. It is
therefore our obligation to give ourselves to him totally and absolutely without reservation.
Montfort‟s Spirituality is based on “redemptive incarnation”. Our insertion into this
redemptive incarnation gives meaning and substance to our religious life, our mission and our
apostolate. To live out this reality of our faith Montfort proposes the “consecration to the incarnate
and eternal wisdom”. In fact no spirituality is true or authentic if it is not Christocentric and God-
ward oriented spirituality. No wonder Montfort‟s battle cry was “God Alone.”
It must be said that the Spirituality of Saint Louis de Montfort aims at the reform of the
Church through a new, lived out affirmation of our baptism into Christ whereby we willingly and
fully accept who we are, the loving slaves of Jesus in Mary.
1.3 Montfort the Educator
Among the ten goals and methods that made Montfort‟s mission fruitful, Grandet, his first
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biographer, lists first “The establishment of Christian schools”.
Moreover, in this regard, one of Montfort‟s principal concerns “was to provide the parishes
with good school Instructor”.
Montfort‟s desire was to establish schools that would be permanent. At least at La Rochelle
he succeeded wonderfully well in this endeavor.
About it another biographer, Besnard, writes: “The first thing he cared for, on arriving at
La Rochalle was to seek funds to establish Christian schools, one for the boys and the other for the
girls, separately and freely”. But the most important thing was to find and train good Instructor.
So Montfort “himself went to the school every day to train the teachers in his methods of teaching
and to provide a model for these disciples.”
Schools for girls were entrusted with Marie-Louise Trichet, first Daughter of Wisdom and
several of her companions. For schools for boys, Montfort chose several Brothers who followed
him in his missions after 1705 who performed tasks like choir master, catechist, and schoolteacher.
1.4 General principles of Education
Montfort‟s vision of Christian education can be summarized under five general principles:
a) An education whose primary goal is the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The
principal aim of the school is the glory of God and apprenticeship in the Christian life. The
organization of the teaching reflects this preoccupation. School for him was a privileged
means of evangelization.
b) An education in which the child is loved as a son and daughter of God. His passion for
teaching catechism flowed from his love for children, like Jesus who loved children.
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c) A free education for the poor of Jesus Christ. It was the rule for Instructors” never, either
directly or indirectly, under any circumstances, to request money or gifts of any kind from
the children or their parents.”
d) An education in which order and silence reign so as to improve the education
e) An active education geared toward the spiritual life.
2. Inductive Analysis
Inductive analysis can be defined as a method that mainly uses in-depth examinations of
raw data to derive themes, concepts or a framework from the interpretations made by the
researcher (Thomas, 2006). In lieu of starting a research study with a preconceived theory in
mind, the inductive method lets a researcher begin his or her research in a particular area, with a
particular set of assumptions and gradually allows the theory of the research to emerge from the
raw set of data collected (Anselm & Corbin, 1998). The inductive research approach enables the
researcher to do a number of things, which Thomas (2006) details in his study. First of all, it
allows the researcher to condense raw textual data into a summary, following which it enables
the researcher to draw links between the summary of results and research objectives acquired
from the raw data. After that, a framework can be developed based on the structure of
experiences or processes derived from the raw data. In this manner, the inductive approach is
capable of producing valid and reliable results, due to its simple procedural system for qualitative
data analysis (Thomas, 2006).
The inductive research method was chosen for this study, as it was believed that it has the
ability to help increase the robustness of results. This is because it allows the researcher to
examine each research case study independently and also as a data source. This method proved
to be the most appropriate one for this particular project as it permitted the researcher to compare
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the hypotheses and findings developed in each case and conclude accordingly (Eisenhardt,
Kathleen & Graebner, 2007; Yin, 1994). Further, based on the in-depth analysis of the three
selected case studies, the inductive research aided in developing comprehensive knowledge
about the organizations and their OER-related works.
The qualitative research was conducted considering the six-step process suggested by
Creswell (2012). First of all, the collected data was prepared and organized for analysis. The data
was then thoroughly examined and coded in order to find themes. The third step comprised of
presenting and reporting the findings of the study, following which they were interpreted. The
last step consisted of validating the accuracy of results. The different stages of data analysis are
elaborated below.
3. Brothers of St. Gabriel The Brothers of St. Gabriel in India began in a very simple way. Father Selesse, a former
Pupil of the Brothers of St. Gabriel, in France, was on the staff of the Petit-Seminarie College, a
Secondary School run by the Paris Foreign Missionaries at Pondicherry, capital of the French
settlements in India. He had his former teachers in high esteem and suggested to Father Escande,
Head of the School, that he would like to invite some of them to join his staff and take over the
teaching of Mathematics and science “according to the new syllabus that had just come into
force”. Father Escande thought it a good idea and was authorized by the archbishop of
Pondicherry, Msgr. Gandy, to approach the Superior General of the Brothers, Bro. Martial.
Bro. Martial lent a deaf ear to the invitation, which remained without a reply. One of his
predecessors, Brother Simeon, had received a similar request in 1858 from the Bishop of Mysore,
Msgr. Charbonneau, and regretted his inability to accept due to the lack of qualified personnel.
The situation was very similar in 1902 when Brother Martial was considering closing down some
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of the institutions of the Brothers in France. The anti-clerical laws that came into force in France
in July 1903, forbade the Brothers to teach and a suppression of all religious orders in France with
the confiscation of their properties, completely altered the situation.
Brother Martial remembered the request of the ecclesiastical authorities of Pondicherry.
Pondicherry was then part of the French colonial empire and the medium of instruction at the Petit
Seminarie College was French and so were the syllabus. He approached the Directors of the
Foreign missions seminary at Paris, from whom he received a very warm welcome and they
accepted to take Brothers to India as missionaries. Three men were promptly chosen. Tow came
from the college at hille, where Father Selosse had been educated: Brother John Baptist de la Salle
and Brother Martin de Vertou. The third Brother Denis was a slightly senior member of the
institute who was at that time, vice Principal of St. Gabriel‟s College at the Mother House of the
Institute in Saint Laurant sur sevre, in the West France. He was to „head‟ this „founding‟
community.
The three would be „Indians‟ met together at Marseilles and left Marseilles on board the
„ANNAM‟ at 4.p.m. on August the 23rd 1903. They reached Pondicherry harbour on September
11th and were welcomed by Fahter Escande, and the three pioneers tread the Indian soil for the
first time. On Monday, the 14th barely three days after their landing, they had begun to teach…
Brother Denis and Brother Martin were given a class each and Brother John Baptist de la salle,
drawing lessons. These three combined together constituted the first community of the Brothers of
St. Gabriel in India.
3.2 The Role of Brothers of Montfortians in the Field of Education
3.21. Academic Education It has been said by Sri Shankaracharya in the Vevekachudamni that “one who born a human
being, doest not strive to realize the Spirit that is within, commits spiritual suicide.” It is here that
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the education in the real sense contributes something that transcends mere secular education. Boys
and girls need to be trained to be alert and aware of the needs in their surroundings.
Education has a fundamental role to play in personal and social development. It is not a
miracle cure or a magic formula opening the door to a world in which all ideals will be attained. It
is one of the principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious form of human
development and thereby to reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance, oppression and war.
The 21st century, dominated by globalization, will bring with it enduring tensions to
overcome, tensions between the global and the local, the universal and the individual, tradition and
modernity, the unlimited expansion of knowledge and the limited capacity of human beings to
assimilate it, and the spiritual and the material.
Education, in fact, is one of the major “life processes” of the human individual. “Just as
there are certain indispensable vital processes of life in a biological sense, so education may be
considered a vital process in a social sense. Education is indispensable to normal living. Without
education, the individual would be unqualified for life.” Without education, human race would be
no better than animal race.
Eating drinking, sleeping and sex-life are common to both animals and human. It is only
knowledge and education, where they differ. “This world would have been enveloped in
intellectual darkness, if it had not been illuminated by the light of education.” Education culturists
the individual and helps him or her in his or her needs all over the world. It develops the individual
like a flower, which distributes its fragrance all over the environment.
3.4 Education for the Differently Abled
The education and the formation of the sensorially handicapped persons have been, since
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Father Deshayes, a special aspect of the mission of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel. In France,
India and Africa, some Brothers have dedicated their lives, and are still doing so, in an effort to
help young people have a happy life in spite of such handicaps.
St. Louis Institute, Adyar (Chennai), is an institution whose reputation is widely known. In
this Institute lots of care is given to the young blind and deaf students. Different programmes are
offered to these students. In general formation (Secondary level), Commercial formation
(University level), and technical formation (printing, computer science, etc.). The students become
autonomous and acquire the needed tools which enable them to contribute their own share in
society‟s life and development.
In Chennai, there is also an institution called Montfort Rehabilitation Centre. This
institution has contributed an Orchestra for blind musicians. This institution receives numerous
invitations to perform in different places. It often takes tour to other places of Tamilnadu and also
goes beyond its frontiers, into other States.
There are, in India, several other institutions, which offer services to deaf and blind youths.
Montfort Centre for Education, Tura (North East India), The Stephen‟s School (Mumbay),
Montfort School (Belagola) and the Vocational Training Centre for the Deaf (Shirdy).
Many other places like Rwanda, Province of Champlain (Canada) and France have
contributed to the up keep of this Centre. At Suryapet, Snehanilayam offers shelter and services to
aged, sick or handicapped persons. At Palayaseevaram, near Chengalpattu, the Trichy Province
started a institution called Montfort Centenary Academy. This will be an educational institution
where, among others, handicapped persons will be admitted.
3.5 Technical Educations Many Provinces have invested personnel and finances in technical and professional
formation programmes. The facilities go from simple shelter with rudimentary equipment, to fully
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organized workshops, equipped with ultramodern, numerically operated machinery.
As early as 1920, St. Gabriel‟s Boarding School, in St. Laurent-Sur-Sevre (France) offered
programmes in technical and professional formation. It has always been keen in keeping up with
technical evolution and always tried to give adequate formation to all students who dwelt within
its walls. And the list of technical schools has, to this very day, continued to be lengthened and the
Brothers are specially trained for that field. According to Countries‟ alphabetical order we have
Liedekerke (Belgium), Pont-l‟ Abbe (France), Savusavu and Suva (Fiji), Ballarpur, Chabua, Goa,
Hazaribag, Hyderabad, Kazipet, Khandwa, Manjampatty, Repalle, St. Thomas Mount, Susaigiri,
and Tindivanam (India). Mahajanga (Madagascar), Batu Tiga, Kota kinabalu and Melaka
(Malaysia), Port-Louis (Mauritius), Kiunga (Papua New Guinea), New Washington (Philippines),
Save (Rwanda), Dakar (Senegal), Bukit Timah (Singapore), Viladdecans (Spain), Dar Es-Salaam
(Tanzania), Nakhon-Panom (Thailand), Nuku-Alofa (Tonga), etc.,
The St. Montfort Technical Centre, in Dakar (Senegal), located in a poor district of the city,
has adopted as its objective to give a second chance to school leavers. The students are given a
general formation while pursuing their training in woodworks, metalwork and electricity. Their
initial steps involved in the planning, and the constant efforts to bring the construction to a close
are, today, rewarded by successes that both the centre and its students enjoy. Other schools or
centers have developed formation programmes in agriculture. It is the case, for instance, in
Madagascar and in Rujewa (Tanzania). An Excellent way of helping people prepare themselves
for an essential activity aimed at the development of their country.
3.6 Social Action The Brothers of St. Gabriel, who share the life vision of Jesus and have received the call
to incarnate into the life-situation of our people who are among the most dispossessed man and
women of our country, have to resist every structure-economic, political and cultural – that deprive
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our brothers and sisters the possibilities of arriving at personal and communal wholeness. We see
the struggle of our people for economic justice, political freedom and cultural renewal as tentative
steps in their search for liberation.
Following the Biblical vision, we consider the poor a special sacrament of Christ.
“Salvation consists in working for a just, egalitarian and loving community.” An Incarnational
identification with the poor is important in the realization of the above vision.
Montfort dealt with all classes of people, but his special care and prediction was for the
poor, the social category. His biographer Grandet writes – “His (Montfort‟s) love for the poor was,
so to say, excessive. He looked upon them as a sacrament hiding Jesus Christ under a repulsive
appearance. A poor man, he used to say, is a great mystery. We must know how to see it”. In the
life of Montfort we come across numerous concrete expressions of his special care for the poor.
His predilection for the poor is expressed in his famous words “open to Jesus Christ” when he
brought to the missionaries house a sick wreck whom he had picked up from the street at Dinan
and whom he laid gently upon his own bed.
It was in answer to the call of the Gospel for a radical living, that a few of the Brothers
dared to step out of institutions almost two decades ago to respond to the problems of massive
poverty, backwardness, illiteracy and the much denied human dignity. These pioneers began by
living among the poor, sharing in their struggles and deprivation. Having a limited understanding
of the causes of poverty and misery, they felt that more resources could bring about development
and progress. Certain developmental programmes were initiated with financial assistance from
external sources. They were careful enough to involve all sections of the people in this process.
But they gradually realized that such developmental programmes benefited only a small
section of people. The condition of the large majority did not improve because they lacked the
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necessary motivation and awareness.
From a critical and scientific analysis of society, they (Brothers of St. Gabriel) have
realized that the Macro structures themselves whether they be political, social, economic or
cultural, have to be transformed, if poverty, underdevelopment and exploitation are to give way to
freedom, solidarity and joy, people should get themselves organized with awareness and
purposefulness. Rise in the consciousness among the unorganized and marginalized masses is
necessary if a lasting transformation is to be accomplished, while they work towards this, they also
strive to create more humane and value-based structures at the micro-level.
4. Conclusion
Montfortian education should be multi-dimensional, ever fresh and in ever growing
process. Schooling may not be only one source of knowledge and one means of education. It should
be frank, free, voluntary and interesting. No certification, grade or class should be emphasized and
all media and methods based on experience, interest and initiative should be utilized for effective
and efficient education for social transformation. Equality of educational opportunity should be
prompted at all levels and special facilities should be provided imparting relevant education to the
socially deprived children.
The Montfortian Educational system has a duty to make a critical analysis of the social
system, to focus attention on its internal contradictions and on the gap between slogans and
practice, and to highlight the need for structural changes where necessary, including those needed
within the educational system itself. Education thus play a useful role in promoting the desire for
a radical social change and also help in deciding the nature of such change as well as the manner
of bringing it about. People are the most important resource. Competent and motivated people can
make things happen and enable Montfortian educational system to achieve its goals. Therefore
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capacity building is an input for growth and strategy for change. If we get in tune with the realities
of the unprecedented global changes taking places, revitalization of our educational service,
reinventing of the process of education, and re-foundation of our institutions can take place.
5. References
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Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating
quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Graebner, M. E. (2007). Theory Building from Cases: Opportunities
and Challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50 (1), 25–32.
Thomas, D. R. (2006). A General Inductive Approach for Analyzing Qualitative
Evaluation Data. American Journal of Evaluation, 27(2), 237-246.
Yin, R. K. (1994), Case Study Research: Design and Methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications.
Yin, R. K. (1994). Discovering the Future of the Case Study Method in Evaluation
Research. Evaluation Practice, 15(3), 283-290.
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