BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS OF IRELAND (CHRISTIAN BROTHERS). - Religious institute founded at Waterford in Ireland by Edmund Ignatius Rice (1768–1844), a wealthy local merchant who, in 1802, after the death of his wife, was thinking of withdrawing to monastic life, when a group-
of abandoned boys, brought to his attention by a pious person, determined his vocation. He then opened his first school in a poor neighborhood, forming there a religious community of lay teachers devoted to the instruction and education of the young, along the lines of what St. Giovanni Battista de La Salle had done in France.
The laws then in force prohibited the establishment of religious congregations in Ireland, but the new institute was able to flourish and spread rapidly. Pius VII approved it on 5 September 1820. Today the F. delle S. d’11 are divided into 5 religious provinces: the Irish, with 95 schools; the Australian, with 82; the English, with 14; the American, with 18; and the Indian, with 12, in addition to the houses in South Africa and Buenos Aires, which do not constitute separate provinces. Several thousand pupils attend their schools, from elementary through secondary level, where instruction is imparted by teaching methods suited to the needs of the times and places. The religious today number 2226.
The laws then in force prohibited the establishment of religious congregations in Ireland, but the new institute was able to flourish and spread rapidly.
Pius VII approved it on 5 September 1820. Today the F. delle S. d’11 are divided into 5 religious provinces: the Irish, with 95 schools; the Australian, with 82; the English, with 14; the American, with 18; and the Indian, with 12, in addition to the houses in South Africa and Buenos Aires, which do not constitute separate provinces. Several thousand pupils attend their schools, from elementary through secondary level, where instruction is imparted by teaching methods suited to the needs of the times and places. The religious today number 2226.
Silverio Mattei
BRBL.: P. J. Hennessy. E. J. Rice, in Cath. Esc., XIII, pp. 40–41; Irish catholic directory and almanac, Dublin 1949, pp. 418–32.