William Joseph Chaminade
Guillaume-Joseph Chaminade, SM (Périgueux, 8 April 1761 – Bordeaux, 22 January 1850) was a French Catholic priest who survived persecution during the French Revolution and later founded the Society of Mary, usually called the Marianists, in 1817. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 September 2000. His feast day is celebrated on 22 January.
The Marianist Family's other three branches — the religious sisters known as the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, the married and single men and women of the Marianist Lay Communities, and the consecrated laywomen of the Alliance Mariale — also look to Chaminade as a founder or inspiration.
Patron saint of Society of Mary
In the Martyrology
- January 22 Blessed Guillaume Joseph Chaminade, priest and founder of the Society of Mary