BROTHERS OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER.
- Religious congregation founded in Bruges in 1839 by Theodore Rijken (1797–1871) for the instruction and Christian formation of youth, especially in America.
The beginnings were very difficult, but thanks to the tenacity of the founder and his first disciples, some schools could be opened in Bruges with good results. In 1848 the Institute moved to England, and in 1855 to Louisville in the United States. By then the path was clear, and development was rapid. Approved by the Holy See on 12 February 1931, today the Congregation has about a dozen houses in Belgium, as many in England, about thirty in America, and flourishing missions in the Belgian Congo and Uganda, with 800 religious.
BIBL.: Fr. Gaëtan, Fragments de l'histoire des Frères Xavériens, Bruges 1911; Fr. Julian, Men and Death. The Xavierian Brothers in America, New York 1930; Souvenir of the first centenary of the Xavierian Brothers, London 1930; The Xavierian, centennial number, Baltimore 1939. Silverio Mattei