Saint Marcellin Joseph Benedict Champagnat (20 May 1789 – 7 June 1840) was born in Rozet, village of Marlhes, near St. Etienne (Loire), France. He was the founder of the Marist Brothers, a religious congregation of men in the Roman Catholic Church devoted to the Virgin Mary and dedicated to education. Champagnat was ordained as a priest in 1816, and was part of a group led by Jean-Claude Colin which founded the Society of Mary, a separate religious congregation to the Marist Brothers teaching order Marcellin founded later.