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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: School Brothers and Sisters
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collective names of numerous associations in the Roman Catholic Church, devoted to the education of the young. The first (the Ursulines) were established at Brescia, 1537. SEE IGNORANTINES.
I. School Brothers. — In the present article only those congregations are mentioned whose members are not priests. The most important school brotherhoods are:
1. The “Brethren of the Christian Schools,” founded by Jean Baptiste de la Salle.
2. The “Christian Brothers,” founded by Rev. E. Rice, at Waterford, Ireland. These have their central house and superior general in Dublin, and numerous establishments in Great Britain, Ireland, and the British colonies.
3. The “Brothers Marists,” or “Christian Brothers of the Society of Mary,” founded at Bordeaux, France, in 1817, by abbe Guillaume Joseph Cheminade; approved by pope Gregory XVI in 1839. The society was introduced into the United States by archbishop Purcell in 1849, and had in 1874, 23 establishments in Ohio, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Louisiana, and Texas.
4. The “Lamennaisian Brothers,” or “Congregation of Christian Instruction,” founded in Brittany, in 1820, by abbe Jean de la Mennais. They reckoned in 1875 about 800 members and 150 establishments in France.
5. The “Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary,” founded in 1821 at Le Puy, France, by abbe Coindrin. They started in the United States at Mobile in 1847, and in 1874 had establishments in Mississippi, New Orleans, Kentucky, and Indiana.
6. The “Xaverian Brothers,” founded at Bruges, Belgium, in 1839, by Theodore Jacques Ryken. They were especially intended to labor in the United States, and were introduced by archbishop Spaulding into Louisville in 1854. In 1875 they had six schools there, one in Baltimore, and the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys near the city.
7. The “Brothers of Charity,” founded in Belgium in 1809, by canon P. Triest, for the education of blind and deaf mutes and training of orphans. In January, 1874, they took charge of the Industrial School of the Angel Guardian in Boston, Mass.
II. School Sisters. — The following are the most important of these congregations:
1. The “Ursulines” (q.v.).
2. The “Sisters of the Visitation of Our Lady,” founded at Annecy, Savoy, in 1610, by St. Francis of Sales and St. Jeanne Frangoise de Chantal. In 1641, at the death of the latter, the order numbered 87 establishments, and in 1700, 160 establishments, with 6600 members. It had one establishment in the United States in Washington, in 1808; and in 1890 others in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It was first approved by pope Urban VIII in 1626.
3. The “Sisters of Notre Dame.” SEE NOTRE DAME, CONGREGATION OF.
4. “Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur,” founded at Amiens, France, in 1804, by pere Joseph Desire Varin, Julie Billiart, and Marie Louise Francoise Blin de Bourdon, and transferred to Namur, Belgium, in 1809. Its object was to educate girls of the middle class; and it was approved by pope Gregory XVI June 28, 1844. It spread rapidly through Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Ireland; and the English government intrusted to the order the direction of normal schools for Roman pupil teachers. They were called to Cincinnati in 1840 by archbishop Purcell, to Oregon by archbishop Blanchet in 1843, to California in 1851, and to Guatemala in 1859. In 1871 they had 82 establishments (20 in the United States) and 26,000 pupils.
5. “Ladies of the Sacred Heart.” SEE SACRED HEART, LADIES OF THE. These have as their primary object the teaching of young girls; others add the care of orphans, visitation of sick and poor, and the direction of hospitals. Such are
(1) the “Ladies of the Incarnate Word,” founded in 1625 by Jeanne Marie Chezard de Matel, and approved by Urban VIII in 1633. They have many establishments in France, and eight in Texas.
(2) The ‘“Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ,” founded Aug. 15, 1849, at Dernbach, Nassau, by Katharine Kaspar; approved by Pius IX in 1860, and confirmed in 1870. They first established themselves in this country at Fort Wayne, Ind., August, 1868. In 1875 they numbered 45 sisters and five houses.(3) The “Sisters of Our Lady of Charity,” or “Eudist Sisters,” founded at Caen, Normandy, by abbe Jean Eudes in 1641. In 1835 they became known as the “House of the Good Shepherd.” SEE SHEPHERD, HOUSE OF THE GOOD.
(4) The “Presentation Nuns,” founded at Cork, Ireland, in 1777, by Miss Nano Nagle, for visiting and teaching, but have since become strictly cloistered. Their first establishment in America was at St. John's, Newfoundland; and in the United States, in New York city, Sept. 8, 1874.
(5) “Sisters of Mercy” (q.v.).
(6) “Sisters of Charity.” SEE CHARITY, SISTERS OF.
(7) The “Gray Nuns,” or” Sisters of Charity of Montreal.” SEE CHARITY, SISTERS OF.
(8) “Sisters of St. Joseph” (q.v.). See Appletons' Cyclop. s.v.; Barnum, Romanism as it Is.