Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools

Encyclopedia : I : IN : INS : Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools

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For a different Roman Catholic order commonly known as "Christian Brothers", see Congregation of Christian Brothers.

The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools also known as the Christian Brothers, the Lasallian Brothers or the De La Salle Brothers is a Roman Catholic religious teaching order, founded by Jean-Baptiste de la Salle. De La Salle was a canon of the cathedral and came from a wealthy family. He had the idea of setting up free schools where the children of the working class and the poor could learn reading, writing and arithmetic. They would also receive religious instruction and other training appropriate for forming good Christian citizens.

To this end, he brought together a group of men to live in community and conduct the schools. He is credited with establishing a regimen of education which emphasized the good of the student, banning corporal punishment from their institutions. The founding of the order is generally dated to 1680. It was the first religious community of men in the Catholic Church not to include clergy, the Institute being comprised solely of lay brothers who are often called Lasallian Brothers. Initially Jean-Baptiste de la Salle sent two lay brothers for training as priests, but on their way back they met untimely deaths. Jean-Baptiste took this as a sign from God that the order should remain as a society of lay brothers.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}He then concluded that his Brothers would be "Elder brothers to those they taught and brothers to each other".

Today the order runs schools in 80 different countries, in both developed and developing nations. The community is headed by a Superior General with the assistance of a General Council. As of 2005, the Superior General is Brother Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, FSC, of Costa Rica.

From 1882 until 1989, a non-profit arm of the order ran a winery in the Napa Valley at Greystone Cellars near St. Helena, California. Most famous for Christian Brothers Brandy, the operation and rights to the name were sold to Heublein, Inc. in 1989. [link]

In 1981 the order started an ethical or socially responsible investment service for Catholic organizations. The service attempts to use its shareholdings to influence the way the companies in which it has invested operate. [link] .La Sallian schools and institutes usually incorporate the Signum Fidei as a mark of their heritage.

See also

• Lasallian universities and colleges
• De La Salle Brothers in the Philippines

External links

• [Official website] in English
• [Catholic Encyclopedia article]

 

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