The aim of this paper is to draw together key components of the death culture of a religious order, The Marist Brothers Institute, that spans the modern era, such that it is possible to perceive, from evidence internal to the tradition, adaptive transformations in its career. Drawing on extracts from Marist archive documents, stages in the development of the Marist death tradition, from beginnings in early 19th-century traditional Marian piety, through subsequent elaborations and Vatican II reconfigurations, are identified. The persistence of the Marist death culture represents a counter-modern case of a 'death-affirming society' at the heart of which is a 'Marianized' theodicy of 'the good death', epitomized by martyrdom. Intimations of convergences between the death codes of religious and laity are noted in conclusion.