If you are accepted to begin first formation, you will be invited to become a postulant and to join the postulancy community in Butare, Rwanda for anglophones or Dakar, Senegal for francophones. Over a period of approximately one year, you will have the chance to share the life of that community, have formation in the Catholic faith and receive personal accompaniment.

At the end of the postulancy you may be invited to enter the novitiate.  Again, there is a novitiate for anglophone speakers in Butare, Rwanda and a novitiate for francophone speakers in Dakar, Senegal. The novitiate provides training in religious life in a multi-cultural community.  It is a two-year formation in preparation for making a religious commitment through the three vows of Chastity, Obedience, and Poverty.

Novices deepen their understanding of the Catholic faith, and of the Bible.  They study the Constitutions of our Congregation, which explain our vocation in the Church.  They learn what it means to be missionary, Marist and religious. They learn how to live in community, and how to work in pastoral teams.