DE LA SALLE BROTHERS

The Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as De La Salle Brothers, is a religious congregation of men founded by Saint John Baptist de La Salle, patron saint of teachers of youth. It is a teaching order that is consecrated to procuring God’s glory and the salvation of the young through the ministry of giving a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor. The Brothers have answered a call to a vocation of faith, community, and service with the work.

• TheBrother is a man who has answered God’s call and has given himselfcompletely to Our Lord by the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.He has decided to make that commitment in order to put all his powersat the educational service of children and young people. That is why heis called a “religious educator”.
• The Brother is a member of acommunity comprising the other Brothers of the Institute, who are allresolved to “maintain the Christian Schools, especially those for poorstudents, in association and as a group”, and to be ready to work intheir ministry anywhere they are asked to go.
• The Brother is a”lay” religious. He is never ordained priest, because the reason forhis ministry is not to preside at liturgical services or to administerthe sacraments, but to educate his students as Christians in secularsubjects as well as in religion.

• The Brother is an apostle,whose life is spent for his students to help them in their needs andproblems. He has decided to be for each and every student more thaneven a friend; his wish is to be their Brother.
• The Brother isa teacher of catechism, an educator in the faith for his students. Hetalks to them about God, teaches them the truths of religion and how toincrease their Faith, he helps them in their Christian life and guidesthem in knowing and loving God.

BROTHERS IN INDIA

First Arrival:

The first arrival of the De La Salle Brothers in India was in 1859 at Mangalore. New foundations took place in Calcutta, Agra, Karaikal, Mahe, Pondichery, Tellicherry, Calicut and Cannanore. However for various reasons the new foundations did not take deep roots. Then in 1884 the Brothers withdrew from India and went on to establish in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

Second Arrival:

Fr. Visuvasam, a Priest from Archdiocese of Madurai was interested in starting an Institution for poor boys and was looking for some Religious Congregations which could help him in this venture. Fr. Simo, a former De La Salle Brother in Sri Lanka introduced the Brothers to the Bishop. The first Institution started was St. Pius X Boys’ Town, on the outskirts of Madurai, in August 1961. Many young men were convinced of the work of the Brothers and joined the Brothers gradually. Later, the Novitiate was started at Mangalagiri, near Tuticorin the Port City.