FRATELLI DELLA MISERICORDIA DI MARIA AUSILIATRICE (Trier). — The Servant of God Pietro Friedhofen founded in 1851 at Weitaberg, near Koblenz, an institute of lay religious for the care of the sick, including those suffering from contagious diseases. The work soon attracted many vocations, and the institute spread throughout Germany and Europe.
On 27 May 1905 the Holy See granted the decree of praise; while the constitutions, provisionally approved in 1910, were adapted to the Code and definitively approved on 29 April 1916. In 1935 the institute petitioned the Holy See to be designated the Congregation of the Brothers of Mercy of Mary Help of Christians.
It currently has 35 houses with more than 500 professed religious.
BIBL.: Arch. S. Congr. dei Relig., T. 35. Giulio Mandelli