IRISH CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

Irish Christian Brothers is the popular name for the Congregation of Christian Brothers, also known as Christian Brothers Institute (CFC), a teaching congregation founded in 1802 in Waterford, Ireland, by Edmund Ignatius rice, a merchant of that city.

The need to educate the youth of his native land, where religious persecution had reduced the majority of Catholics to poverty and ignorance, led Rice to dispose of his prosperous business affairs. In 1802, he began to instruct the neglected youth of Waterford; others joined him, the work prospered, and schools were opened in neighboring towns. In August 1808, with six companions, Rice made his vows and received the name Brother Ignatius. When papal approval was granted in 1820, Brother Rice was elected the first superior general.

The spread of the congregation to distant countries was occasioned largely by the need of Irish-born prelates for help in educating the youth of their dioceses. Four brothers were sent to Australia in 1868. In 1876, the brothers were sent to Newfoundland, Canada. The congregation was introduced to the British colony of Gibraltar in 1877 and soon enjoyed a respected place in an education system long dominated by "regimental" academies and non-Catholic schools. In 1886 at the request of the Holy See, schools were opened in India. In 1906 Msgr. James W. Power invited the brothers to open a school at All Saints parish, New York City. This was the cradle of the North American province, which, with the incorporation of the Newfoundland schools, was formally established in 1916. The generalate is in Rome.

[j. h. vaughan/eds.]