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Field Education of Monfort Brothers in Pondicherry, India - a Case Study

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Field Education of Monfort Brothers in Pondicherry, India - a Case Study 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, Volume XII, Issue I, January/2020 Page No:393 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 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. Volume XII, Issue I, January/2020 Page No:394 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 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 Volume XII, Issue I, January/2020 Page No:395 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 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. Volume XII, Issue I, January/2020 Page No:396 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 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.
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