GIUSEPPINI DEL BELGIO. – They were founded at Crommont in Flanders in 1817 by Canon C. van Crombrugghe (1798–1865). Initially intended for primary education, the G. later also devoted themselves to commercial education and, after 1850, added the literary instruction of Greek and Latin.
Further foundations were subsequently established at Melle and Leuven. They received the decree of praise in 1863, and in 1897 became a priestly Congregation with simple vows. The constitutions were definitively approved in 1930. After the First World War, the Institute opened houses in mission territories: in Brazil in 1924 and at Kasai (Belgian Congo) in 1929.
At present the G. number 8 houses, 2 of them in England, with 200 members.
GIUSEPPINISMO: V. GIUSEPPE I, IMPERATORE.