The De La Salle Brothers, officially named the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (; ; ; ) abbreviated FSC, is a Catholic lay religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in France by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (1651–1719), now based in Rome, Italy. The De La Salle Brothers are also known as the Christian Brothers (sometimes by Lasallian organisations themselves), French Christian Brothers, or Lasallian Brothers. The Lasallian Christian Brothers are distinct from the Congregation of Christian Brothers, often also referred to as simply the Christian Brothers, or Irish Christian Brothers. The Lasallian Brothers use the post-nominal abbreviation F.S.C. to denote their membership of the order, and the honorific title Brother, abbreviated "Bro."
The Lasallian order stated that the Institute had 2,883 Brothers, who helped in running 1,154 education centers in 78 countries with 1,160,328 students, together with 107,827 teachers and lay associates. Summary of statistics as of December 2023, with link to detailed 136-page report. There are La Salle educational institutions in countries ranging from impoverished nations such as Nigeria to post-secondary institutions such as Bethlehem University (Bethlehem, Palestine), Manhattan University (New York City, US), College Mont La Salle (Ain Saadeh, Lebanon), and La Salle University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US).Morgan, G., F.S.C., Lasallian Education – 150 Years in Toronto, 2001. The central administration of the Brothers operates out of the Generalate in Rome and is made up of the Superior General and his councillors.
A number of Lasallian institutions in several countries have been accused of, and have admitted and apologised for, long-standing and serious physical and sexual abuse against their charges.
History
In March 1679, Jean-Baptiste de La Salle met the teacher Adrian Nyel in a chance encounter at the Convent of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus. Nyel asked for La Salle's help in opening free schools for the poor boys in Reims. A novitiate and normal school were established in Paris in 1694. Then the brothers decided collectively to take what is called a "vow of association" that is still performed today. This initial vow required the brothers to stay together and interact with their community, instead of living in separate monasteries or isolated convents such as in the priesthood. La Salle spent his life teaching poor children in parish charity schools. The school flourished and widened in scope; in 1725, six years after La Salle's death, the society was recognised by the pope, under the official title of "Brothers of the Christian Schools". La Salle was canonised as a saint on 15 May 1900. In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared him to be the "Special Patron of All Teachers of Youth in the Catholic Church".
The order, approved by Pope Benedict XIII in 1725, rapidly spread over France. It was dissolved by a decree of the National Assembly set up after the French Revolution in February 1790, but recalled by Napoleon I in 1804 and formally recognised by the French government in 1808. Since then its members penetrated into nearly every country of Europe, Africa, America, Asia and Australia.C. Moe, "Hardly a soft landing: the first Australian foundation of the De La Salle Brothers – Armidale 1906", Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society vol 28 (2007), pp. 67–73.
The Order As religious, members take the three usual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Institute's headquarters is in Rome, Italy. The order has five global regions: North America (Région Lasallienne de l’Amérique du Nord, RELAN), Asia/Oceania (Pacific-Asia Regional Conference, PARC), Europe/Mediterranean (Région Lasallienne Européenne-Méditerranéenne, RELEM), Africa (Région Lasallienne Africano-Malgache, RELAF), and Latin America (Region Latinoamericana Lasallista, RELAL).
During the International Year of Literacy/Schooling (1990), the UNESCO awarded the Noma Literacy Prize to Lasallian Institutions.
The order says that its key principles are faith in the presence of God, concern for the poor and social justice, inclusive community, respect for all people, and quality education.
In 2017 the Institute had 3,800 brothers, 75% fewer than in 1965. The decline is due partly to many brothers reaching retirement age, and the small number of new recruits. In the same period the number of students in Lasallian schools increased from about 700,000 to over a million.
Superiors General
The following have served as Superior General of the De La Salle Brothers:
1717–1720 Br. Barthélemy (Joseph Truffet), FSC 1720–1747 Br. Timothée (Guillaume Samson Bazin), FSC 1751–1767 Br. Claude (Pierre Nivet), FSC 1767–1777 Br. Florence (Jean Boubel), FSC 1777–1787 Br. Agathon (Joseph Gonlieu), FSC 1795–1810 Br. Fumence (Jean-Baptiste Herbet), FSC 1810–1822 Br. Gerbaud (Sébastien Thomas), FSC 1822–1830 Br. Guilluame de Jésus (François Marre), FSC 1830–1838 Br. Anaclet (Claude Louis Constantin), FSC 1838–1874 Br. Philippe (Mathieu Bransiet), FSC 1874–1875 Br. Jean-Olympe (Joseph Paget), FSC 1875–1884 Br. Irlide (Pierre Jean Cazaneuve), FSC 1884–1897 Br. Joseph (Joseph Marie Josserand), FSC 1897–1913 Br. Gabriel Marie Joseph (Joseph Marie Josserand), FSC 1913–1923 Br. Imier de Jésus (Antoine LaFabrègue), FSC 1923–1928 Br. Allais Charles (Jean Petiot), FSC 1928–1934 Br. Adrien (Petiot), FSC 1934–1940 Br. Junien Victor (Auguste Détharré), FSC 1940–1946 Br. Arèse-Casimir, FSC 1946–1952 Br. Athanase Émile (Louis-Arthur Ritman), FSC 1946–1956 Br. Denis-de-Jésus (Alphonse-Louis de Schepper), FSC - Vicar General 1956–1966: Br. Nicet Joseph Loubet, FSC 1966–1976: Br. Charles Henry Buttimer, FSC 1976–1986: Br. José Pablo Basterrechea, FSC 1986–2000: Br. John Johnston, FSC 2000–2014: Br. Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, FSC 2014–2022: Br. Robert Schieler, FSC From 2022: Br. Armin Luistro, FSC
Activities Education
La Salle initiated a number of innovations in teaching. He recommended dividing up of the children into distinct classes according to their attainments. He also taught pupils to read the vernacular language.
In accordance with their mission statement "to provide a human and Christian education ... especially [to] the poor" the Brothers' principal activity is education, especially of the poor. The Lasallian order stated that the Institute had 2,883 Brothers, who helped in running 1,154 education centers in 78 countries with 1,160,328 students, together with 107,827 teachers and lay associates.
Institutions The Guadalupana De La Salle Sisters were founded by Br. Juan Fromental Cayroche in the Archdiocese of Mexico. , they teach in twelve countries. The motherhouse is in Mexico City. The Congregation of the Lasallian Sisters was founded in 1966 by the Brothers of the Christian School in Vietnam to take care of the needs of poor children abandoned because of the civil war there. The office is in Bangkok. Lasallian Volunteers were lay people who volunteered for one or two years to engage in teaching and other Lasallian activities. They received room and board and a living stipend. The Lasallian Volunteers program ended on June 30, 2022, after 32 years.
Protection of the environment English Lasallian lay brother and missionary Paul McAuley went to Peru in 1995 as part of his ministry in the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and set up a school in a poor shantytown in Lima; after a few years he was honoured with the British award of MBE for his work. He gave the award away and said that he would otherwise have returned it in protest at British companies' activities in the rainforest. In 2000, he founded the La Salle Intercultural Student Community, a hostel for indigenous schoolchildren in Belén, a neighbourhood of the jungle city of Iquitos. He helped tribes in the Amazon rainforest to fight against oil and gas companies expanding into the rainforest; local news media described him as a "Tarzan activist", "white terrorist" and "incendiary gringo priest". In July 2010, the Peruvian government revoked his residency permit for participating in activities "such as protest marches and other acts against the Peruvian state which constitute a breach of public order." He fought the expulsion in Peruvian courts and won his right to stay. Reissued 3 April 2019
On 2 April 2019, his dead body was discovered in the same hostel he founded in Iquitos; his body had been burned after his death. Peru's episcopal conference praised McAuley and called on the authorities to investigate the crime.
Other activities Investment services In 1981, the Institute started Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS), a "socially responsible investing service" exclusively for Catholic organisations, saying that it "encourage[s] companies to improve policies and practices through active ownership".
Winery The Brothers arrived in Martinez, California, US, on the southern edge of the Carquinez Strait, part of the greater San Francisco Bay in 1868. In 1882 they began making wine for their own use at table and as sacramental wine. They also began to distill brandy, beginning with the pot-still production method that is used in the cognac region. Their production expanded until 1920, when prohibition limited their production to wines for sacramental use.
In 1932, at the end of Prohibition, they relocated the winery to the Mont La Salle property in the Napa Valley and continued making wine, in larger quantities. In 1935 Brother Timothy Diener became wine master, and he served in this position for 50 years. In the 1950s they acquired Greystone Cellars near St. Helena, California. Varietal wine was made at the Napa Valley facility, generic wine and brandy were produced at Reedley in the San Joaquin Valley, and barrel ageing was handled at Greystone.
The Christian Brothers winery operated under the corporate name "Mont La Salle Vineyards". In 1988 the winery employed 250 people and produced 900,000 cases of wine, 1.2 million cases of brandy, and 80,000 cases of altar wine. Proceeds from sales helped to fund the Christian Brothers programs and schools, such as Cathedral High School in Los Angeles, and the care of ageing Brothers.
In 1989, the vineyards were sold to Heublein, Inc. The sacramental wine brand was purchased by four former Christian Brothers winery executives who carry on production under the name "Mont La Salle Altar Wines". The Brothers retained the Mont La Salle property and have a retreat located there.
Controversial incidents Child sexual abuse In the Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA), an inquiry into institutional sexual and physical abuse in Northern Ireland institutions that were in charge of children from 1922 to 1995, the De La Salle Brothers admitted in 2014 to the abuse of boys at two institutions: the former De La Salle Boys' Home Rubane House in Kircubbin, County Down, and St Patrick's Training School in west Belfast, and apologised to its victims. The order accepted that one of its earliest overseers engaged in sexual offences. Representing the de la Salle order, Kevin Rooney QC said the brothers recognised that some of their members had caused "immense pain" to children which was "in contradiction to their vocation". Senior Counsel Christine Smith QC said, "...[T]hose homes operated as outdated survivors of a bygone age."