CONGREGATION OF SANTA CROCE.
In 1820, Giacomo Francesco Dujarié, parish priest of Ruillé-sur-Loir (Sarthe), founded, under the name «Brothers of St Joseph», an association of laymen to assist parish priests in the priestly ministry and in teaching. It developed rapidly, so much so that, by decree of Louis XVIII dated 25 June 1823, it was declared to be of public utility. On 31 August 1835, Dujarié, elderly and
Having accepted the office of superior of the Brothers of S. Giuseppe, he transferred their novitiate to the outskirts of Le Mans, in order to provide more easily for the formation of the novices; and in 1836 he moved with the auxiliary priests from the seminary to Santa Croce, into a house near that of the Brothers. On 1 March 1837, with the consent of the bishop, the members of the two communities—8 ecclesiastics and 51 Brothers of S. Giuseppe—assembled in the house at Santa Croce and signed a «Fundamental Act», by which they accepted the union of the two communities under the same superior general. The new institution was called the Association of S. C., after the name of the place where it was founded. Pontifical approval was granted on 25 May 1856, and on 13 May 1857 the constitutions of the institute were approved under the name of C. di S. C.
Its purposes are preaching, especially in the countryside and in foreign missions, and the instruction and Christian education of young people in schools. It developed rapidly, and the missions multiplied in the department of Sarthe and in those nearby. In 1840 priests and brothers were sent to North America. In 1841 the house of Notre Dame du Lac was founded there, and in 1843 a college was opened that later became the University of Notre Dame du Lac, still today among the most flourishing in North America. In 1847, in Canada, a parish with a college was first founded at S. Laurent near Montréal, and later, in 1846, the University of S. Joseph, at Memramcook, in the province of New Brunswick. In 1852 the apostolic vicariate of Dacca in eastern Bengal (India) was entrusted to the C. di S. C.; it was abandoned in 1875 and resumed in 1888. The province of the United States has recently opened a college at Santiago del Cile. The celebrated sanctuary of belongs to the province of Canada.
CONGREGAZIONE DI S. CROCE - CONGREGAZIONE MARIANA
S. Giuseppe du Mont-Royal. The mission of Bengal was divided into two dioceses: Dacca and Chittagong. The province of France, which had disappeared with the suppression, was reorganized in 1926. Today the C. is divided into 3 provinces (France, United States of America, Canada) and has been entrusted with the dioceses of Dacca and Chittagong (India). It numbers 1497 religious with 80 houses.