Schools, BROTHERS OF CHRISTIAN, a religious congregation in the Roman Catholic Church, established for the religious and secular education of the poor. It originated in France in the end of the 17th century, and was organised by a charitable ecclesiastic, the Abbé de la Salle, canon of the church of Rheims (1651–1719), who in 1684 resigned his canonry, sold his possessions for the poor, and drew up rules for his brotherhood of teachers—all lay brothers and subject to one general head. Teaching was made gratuitous for day-scholars, but boarders and day-boarders paid fees. Learning Latin was not obligatory on the poor; after the catechism the basis of the teaching was reading and writing the mother-tongue. On this ground it has been claimed for the canon of Rheims that he was really the founder of organised primary schools and primary education. The brothers devote themselves by a vow to the profession of teaching for life, and are trained in normal schools of their own. They wear a special ecclesiastical costume, and work always in pairs, and, though laymen, are bound by the usual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In 1725 Benedict XIII. issued a bull recognising them as a religious congregation. It still continues to flourish in France (in spite of the secularisation of public schools), as also in Belgium, Italy, southern Germany, Great Britain, North America, and Africa. Their system of education has received the highest testimonies, and they still form one of the most flourishing of all the lay orders in the Catholic Church. The brothers have over 2000 schools, with some 325,000 scholars—more than two-thirds of them in France and her colonies, and the most part receiving gratuitous education.
The Institute of Irish Christian Brothers was founded at Waterford in 1802 by Ed. Ignatius Rice, merchant. Branches of the order were soon established in Dublin, Cork, and other towns, especially in the south of Ireland. The institute was formally approved as a congregation by Pius VII. in 1820, and since then has received many favours from succeeding pontiffs. It is governed by a superior-general, who resides at the head house in Marino, Dublin. For a time the Brothers accepted a government grant under the National Board of Education, established in 1832, but soon withdrew from this connection on account of the separation of religious and secular teaching insisted on by the National Board as a fundamental condition of receiving any share of the grant at its disposal; and since then the Brothers' primary schools have been supported by the voluntary contributions of the people. Their system of teaching has met with the warm approval of successive royal commissions appointed to inquire into the state of primary education in Ireland. There are some 700 Brothers, with 40,000 pupils. Besides primary schools, the Brothers conduct institutions for the deaf and dumb, industrial schools, orphanages, high schools, and colleges; they have also extensive establishments in India, Australia, New Zealand, Gibraltar, and Newfoundland.