THE IRISH CHRISTIAN BROTHERS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 39, 22 January 1886, Page 19

THE IRISH CHRISTIAN B ROTHERS.

A&Dublih correspondent furnishes the following interMtiog and instructive sketch of the origin and progress of tbe Iriih Christian Brother*, which will be read with interest by Catholics in every region of the world :—: — Two hundred years ago, tbe Venerable Abbe* de la SUle of Bheims, drew op tbe first rales which were to guide his little band of Brothers of the Christian SjbooJs. Though theti only thirty-foar jears of age he had experience enougn of the world ani its vicissitudes to know that education was tin key to tbe highest spiritual and temporal happiness, aril that Grod't poor were, to a great extent, shut out from its enjovmeut, owing to the want of gratuitous teaching. He, therefore, resolved to devote bis energies and abilities to the development of arc educational scheme which would rake tbe humbler classes to a level, in tie matter of knowledge, with their fortune-favoured brethren ; and gathering around him a •mail number of teachers inspired by the name holy ambitiou and bound together by c«rtaiu vow*, he originated tbe Primary System of education. The Brothers of the Oaritcian Schools are famed to-day, tbe world over, and albeit their influence oa the growth of learning in Ireland has not been, directly, of much service, nevertheless, they are gratefully acknowledged to be tbe initiator* of a movemeat which ban done mire to refine tbe Iri->h, ibaa, perhaps, any other movement of the century. When this country whs sunk in tbe depths of political slavery, between eighty and ninety yean ago, B Imuod Ignatius Bice, from Callan, Kilkenny, but carrying on a luciaiive bus' ness as a merchant) in Watarford, made up his mind to leave all its miseries behind hiai, and wend his way to Borne for the purpose of adoping a life of* tedusioa. Before he set sail, however, from the suffering little island, one day be came into coutaot in tbe street with Huch an amount of youthful depravity and deplorable ignorance of the rudimentary truths of religion that the question arose within him— Was he doing right in leaving his native land when he might help to lighten its sad condition f The answer came from beav n t o his heart ; it was "No." Then tmoiag his eyts outwards and hie thoughts inwards, he founded, in 1802, a religious Order to b-. guided by tne rule > and general system established by the Venerable de la Salle in 1484, wisely c including that be could find no netter model for the plan be proposed to carry out for the benefit of the Ir sh poor. Two years after, ou tbe Ist of May, 1804, at Mount Sion in the city of Waterford, under the auspices of Mr. Rice's warm friend and supporter, tbe Most Rev. Or. HuH-tey, Bis iop of tbe Diodes**, the fir at Christian Brothers' School wae opened, and proved co successful that in a short time several of the Bishops invited the founder to establish similar schools elsewhere. Thus it happened that Dubliu, Cork, Limerick and other centres of population became the posse-wore of houses of the institution ; and bvf >re t-ixteen years had elapsed tbe Bishops of Ireland petitioned the Holy Father " to approve the congregation and grant it a constitution." Thi Most Bey. Dr. Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, worked hard in promoting tbe interests of this Urge-hearted enterprise, and it was mainly owing to his untiring eft >rts tiat on Sept. sib, 1820 the Apjstolic Brief, confirming the newly-formed Institute, was obtained from Pope Pius VII. Theu, not gradually as growth goes on which has never kuown impediment, but at a rush as a river flows waen Vv>. dam has been removed, education and its attendant results appeared all over tbe island. Idleness and its offspring, vice no longer battened and grew fat on tbe spiritual lives of Irish children wandering fearless of God, scornful of truth, through tbe slums and gutter-channels of our cities. A wonderful change came over the spirit of youthful Ir -land ; a mild yoke restrained the h iDits and demeanor of the rising generation ; their care* and considerations began to display less of tbe animal and raoie of the soul, and promise spra-g up on all sides that under the. wise and geutle rule of th; Ctuistiin Brothers ihe demoralizing, the degrading, aye, even the brutalizing effect of the foul penal lawj, which for so lonjj. had proscribed Oatholic c iucation, would pass away, giving place to thai power which comes from knowledge, aud which to-day enables us to dum md, with firm voice and uufaheiing courage, justice in the proportional distribution of all educational advantages— justice, nothing more, anl, most assuredly, nothing less. It is now eighty years since Mr. Bice and his assistants starte 1 their little schoo. in the Urbt Intacta, aud behold what fruit since then that one good seed has borne I As I write, there are no fewer, io this isle i f ours, than eighty eight bou-es of tne institute, including two hundred and sixty-eight schools which provide education for clode on to thirty thousand bojs; while in the colonies, tbi.teen branches are already flourishing, and these embrace thirty-eight schools the attendance at which— not reckoning Sunday pupils— cumbers over three tbousani. In charge of such a wile spreading establishment, six hundred Brothers, united by the usual religions vows, toil day after day, kuovtrmp no higher plta«uie than thspirrtual and intel.ectual progress of the you ijr minds entrusted to their care ; sternly abutting theoiselv-jH within the stern duties of the schoolroom ; recognizing no worldly ambitions which are no rcentred in the promotion of then high and nob:e mission; a id Reeking no reward but that invisible one of keeping pnre and bright the spirit of Catholicism amongst tbe people of th" sharam-k's soil. That their system of educatio ■ in good beyond dispute has been admitted by successive Boyal Commissioners appointed to investigate the educational state of this island. For a time after the foundation of the Board of National Education in 1832, tbe Bothers worked in . connection with the new scheme of affording public primary instiujtion, and tbey accepted ikd grant ; but " fin ling that the rules of the Board as toAhe absolute division of secular fr^m religious teaching were gradually leading them into concessions alien to the spirit of their founder and their Church, they trithdtew from all connection with tbe Government, aud have since carried on :l:e : r schools independently." With what result*", here there is no need to tell, since, in the first place, tbe generosity and sympathy of the Catholic [rich

are 1 pWVeftrar wtttreVer Catholicity has made a home for itself ; since, in the sec jrfo? place, we all know how many of Brio's trudtt sons to-day, may thauk th* •• penny-a-week " schools of Christine Brothers for what is best and strongest in their career and character ; and since, in the third place, the results of the Intermediate Examinations go to prove every year, how vigorously the Irish disciple* of tbe Venerable de la Salle are keeping pace with the strides of modern education in its most enduring phases. A pardonable pride induces me to p\use for a minute or two over the Intermediate Education competition which took place last June throughout Ireland, and this is what I find : tbe Christian Brothers 1 schools can claim 36 per cent, of all the successful can* didates ; 41 per cent, of the successful candidates in the junior grade ; 21 per cent, of all tbe exhibitions awarded, and forty- eight per cent, of all the prices ! Not a bad proportion I In fact quite a wonderful proportion when one comes to think wha,t raw material in the majority of cues tbe Brothers get into their bands, and also that the necessities of life too often call the scholars into the straggle for bread before their teachers have an opportunity of doing anything like justice to their abilities. This great sttecesi in tbe public examnlation-hall was no slice of good Inek, no happy leap into distinction ; on the contrary, it was well earned by honest labonr, as you will readily understand when I toll yon that at the Intermediate Examination in 18JU the Christian Brothers' boys won only 6 exhibitions ; in '82 they more than doubled the number, for they gainel 13 ; in '83, they could boast of 19 ; in '84, there were no lesi that 44 carried off by them ;in '86— that is, last June — they took another step on by winning 52. Tbe Cork branch alone can lay claim to 12 exhibitions, 17 prises, 2 medals, and 106 passes— making a total of 185, ani of these 115 belonged to tbeir junior grade. To give yon an idea of tbe high-class education afforded to such young children in these schools, primary, though taey be, you must know h*t in the city on the Lee 23 passed in Keltic, 10 in Italian, 17 in Latin, 69 in French, 131 in English. 129 in arithmetic, f 2 in book-keeping, 57 in chemistry, 129 in drawing, and 54 in music. Sere in our own Richmond-street or " O'Connell " Schools, 20 pvesed in La. in, 53 in algebra, 6T ia chemistry, lin Greek, 2in trigonom :try, 2. in mechanic*, and 48 in mudc ; while in other subjects tiny gained an equal amount of kudos. Indeed, it was a aeni ir b)v in Richmond-street who won the silver medal in chemistry. Two silver medals (one for Kiltie and one for drawing), ani a special £lf>_ prise for English and French were taken by' Cork middle-grade lads £ a gold m idil (for bein.r fintt io bis grade) and a silver for Kiltie were awarded to two Waterford junior-grade boys ; and be it known uuto all the got 1 medal for English was triumphantly borne off by a middle-grade Cashel boy. Long life to everyone of them I These are the big vict >ries, and I have no intention of going on lik-4 Tennyson's •' Brook," by attempting any enumeration of tue smaller glories, beyond iuforming you that in the middle-grade tbe maximum in arithmetic was gaintd by two boys fiom Richmondstreet and one from Cork ; and in the junior grade by 2 from Belfast, 2 from Synge-streit, 1 from Richmond -street, Cork, Enni«, and Yougbal, respectively. So far, excellent I But who will tell me what terms of admiration I am to use to all the Chris'iau Brothers' little boys who came off with tbe maximum in algebra — 2 from Knnis, and 1 eaah from Wes: land-row, Youghal, Cork, Richmond-street and Newry f And towards thei r most deserving teachers, too 7 Now; if I have not satisfactorily, or even unsatisfactorily, led you to tbe conclusion that we, Irish, stand very mv h in debt to this religiousc mgregation, I must have sadly abused the evidence at my command, but why should I fear this, when there is no need to put you on the way to such an opinion ? You are there already — have bwen there ever so long— and are q'lite as sure as I an that the good effected by this *elf-renouncing community of tcauturs is not to be measured by earthly rewards or recompenses. See tiem labouring without ceasing, week after w.ek, in the schools of the poor, training the sons of our artisans, of our working classes, to love the light which falls from Heaven on tbe earnest soul, and by which alone a man can do bis best in the sight of his Maker ; teaching them W love justice and truth for their own oak's, and to love learning be* cause it raises the mind from sordid cares, empty pleasures, and selfish interest* I See them lif ing the cr >sa of sorrow and temptation from the young orphans committed to tieir care in >t. Vincent's Orphanage at Qlasnevin : biightening the lonely future for tbe poor dpaf mute* at Cabra'; and guiding the young feet of the hundreds of destitute children who are trained for life's battle in their industrial schools at Artan», Li m Tick, and Gal way I See them thus working against moral weakness, against ignorance, against sin, as you who know anything of Ireland must have seen them, and tbJn say that you require it to be proved that we owe them more than we shall ever b.ivt* it in our power to pay 1