Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
Encyclopedia
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: Fratres Scholarum Christianarum) is a Roman Catholic religious teaching congregation, founded in France by Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle and now based in Rome. Brothers use the post-nominal abbreviation FSC.
He trained and organized a group of men to live in community and conduct the schools. He is credited with establishing a regimen of education which emphasised the good of the student, banning corporal punishment from their institutions. The founding of the Institute is generally dated to 1680. It was the first religious community of men in the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
not to include clergy, the Institute being composed solely of lay brother
Lay brother
In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...
s. At one point, Jean-Baptiste de La Salle had one brother, Henri L'Heureux, study for the priesthood, with the intention of having him take over the supervision of the Institute. However, Br. Henri soon became ill and died unexpectedly the night prior to his ordination. Jean-Baptiste took this as a sign from God that the order should remain as a society of lay brothers. He determined that his Brothers would be older brothers to those they taught and brothers to one another.
The Institute underwent two periods of upheaval in France. The first occurred during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
when schools were closed and some Brothers lost their lives. By 1805 Napoleon Bonaparte restored the Institute in France, beginning a period of rapid growth for the Brothers. By 1810, the Institute had 160 Brothers working in France and Italy; 90 years later by the end of the century, the Institute had 14,631 Brothers working in 35 countries.
The second period of upheaval began in 1904 when France began to enact a series of "secularisation laws". These laws essentially expelled most Catholic religious groups from France and forced the closing of schools. Brothers left France to continue work overseas, notably in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
as well as Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
Since 1937 its world headquarters has been in Rome. The community is headed by a Superior General
Superior general
A Superior General, or General Superior, is the Superior at the head of a whole religious order or congregation.The term is mainly used as a generic term, while many orders and congregations use other specific titles, notably:* Abbot general...
with the assistance of a General Council. As of 2000, the Superior General is Brother Alvaro Rodriguez Echeverria
Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría
Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría is the 27th superior general of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, or De La Salle Brothers, a Catholic teaching order....
, FSC, native of Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
.
The British province of the Institute, headquartered in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, is a registered charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
under English law.
Founder, his Rule and the Mission of the Institute
The Founder is St. John Baptist de La Salle, a French priest who lived in the 17th century. He came from a wealthy family. He became involved with in teaching poor children in parish charity schools, and focused his life on this. He was canonized as a saint on May 15, 1900. In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared him to be the Special Patron of All Teachers of Youth in the Catholic Church.He emphasized the virtue of faith for the brothers: "The spirit of this Institute is first, a spirit of faith, which should induce those who compose it not to look upon anything but with the eyes of faith, not to do anything but in view of God, and to attribute all to God." (Rule 1718). He also said that “To touch the hearts of your students and to inspire them with the Christian spirit is the greatest miracle you could perform, and the one that God asks of you, since this is the purpose of your work.”
The Brothers Rule states that the Mission of the Institute is “to provide a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor, according to the ministry entrusted to them by the church.”
Education
The Institute now conducts educational work in 80 different countries, in both developed and developing nations, with more than 800,000 students enrolled in its educational works.Other activities
From 1882 until 1989, a non-profit arm of the order ran a wineryWinery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...
in the Napa Valley at Greystone Cellars
Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, California is a branch campus of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone provides continuing education and career development for professionals in the food, wine, health,...
near St. Helena, California
St. Helena, California
St. Helena is a city in Napa County, California, United States. It is part of the northern San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 5,814 at the 2010 census....
. Most famous for Christian Brothers Brandy
Brandy
Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...
, the operation and rights to the name were sold to Heublein, Inc. in 1989.
In 1981 the Institute started an ethical or socially responsible investment service
Socially responsible investing
Socially responsible investing , also known as sustainable, socially conscious, or ethical investing, describes an investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social good....
for Catholic organisations. The service attempts to use its shareholdings to influence the way the companies in which it has invested operate. Lasallian schools and institutions usually incorporate the Signum Fidei as a mark of their heritage.
Lasallian saints
- Bénilde RomançonBénilde RomançonSaint ' Bénilde Romançon, FSC was a Christian Brother who was born as Pierre Romançon on June 13, 1805, in the town of Thuret, Puy-de-Dôme in France to a farming family. In 1818, Pierre, aged 13, first saw the Christian Brothers in a market at Clermont-Ferrand. He instantly felt a strong desire to...
- Jaime HilarioJaime HilarioSaint Jaime Hilario, FSC was a Spanish member of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Born Manuel Barbal Cosan in Enviny near the Pyrenees in northern Spain, he entered a minor seminary at age 12 for the diocese of Urgel...
- Miguel Febres CorderoMiguel Febres CorderoSaint Miguel was a member of the Order of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He was born Francisco Febres-Cordero Muñóz on November 7, 1854 at Cuenca, Ecuador and died at Premià de Mar, Spain on February 9, 1910....
- Mutien-Marie WiauxMutien-Marie WiauxSaint Mutien-Marie Wiaux was a Belgian member of the Brothers of Christian Schools. He was born Louis Wiaux, the third of six children, in French-speaking Belgium to a devout Catholic family...