BROTHERS OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES. – A religious institute founded in 1830 by Modeste-Étienne Glorieux, vicar of St-Hermes in Renoir (Ghent), for the Christian education of youth and the care of the sick. Initially they were called “Frères de bonnes œuvres,” and they received their present name in 1888 when the motherhouse was transferred to Oostacker near Ghent. The decree of praise was issued on 18 July 1892, and definitive approval on 3 January 1939.
Spread throughout Belgium, the Netherlands, the Dutch East Indies, and the Belgian Congo, the institute is now divided into two provinces and numbers 880 religious in 46 houses with primary, secondary, normal, professional, and agricultural schools; orphanages, hospitals, homes for the mentally ill, and residences for the elderly.