BROTHERS OF THE SACRED HEART

BROTHERS OF THE SACRED HEART. Father Andre Coindre, founder of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, was born in Lyon, France, in 1787. Devoting his life to the restoration of the Church following the Reign of Terror at the end of the French Revolution, his chief mission became the moral, intellectual, and religious development of young orphan boys distressed by the loss of family life. (1)

Father Coindre envisioned a community of brothers trained to work with the poor through the establishment of schools; in 1821 that dream became a reality with the formation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. After Father Coindre's death in 1826 and at the end of Father Francis Coindre's administration, Brother Polycarp, the first Brother Superior General, assumed leadership of the struggling community. His tenure was marked by a period of tremendous growth. By the time of his death in 1859, the Institute had grown to over 400 Brothers in seventy schools. (2)

In January of 1847 at the request of Bishop Portier, five missionary Brothers of the Sacred Heart arrived in Mobile, Alabama, to begin charitable and educational work. With a presence in the United States, the congregation began its transformation into a worldwide institute, spreading throughout North America in the South, New York and New England areas and into Canada. (3)

Brothers of the Sacred Heart came to Dubuque from LePuy, France in 1851 to be instructors at SAINT RAPHAEL'S CATHEDRAL SCHOOL. (4) The primary and high school for boys was held in the basement of the episcopal residence and in a two-story brick building constructed near the bluff. The oldest school in the ARCHDIOCESE OF DUBUQUE, the school had been established in 1836 by Father Samuel MAZZUCHELLI in the basement of the cathedral with its first instructors had been laymen and laywomen. (5)

When MOUNT ST. BERNARD SEMINARY was constructed, the Brothers bought a 261 acre farm for $6 an acre at auction. The property was adjacent to the seminary farm and four miles from Dubuque. The Brothers intended to establish a novitiate there if the congregation were to be expelled from France which was a real fear at the time. They did not establish a novitiate at New Paradise Grove, the name they gave to the property they purchased. When the seminary closed, the remaining seven Brothers on the farm left in April of 1860 since it was too difficult for them to get to daily Mass. (4)

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Source:

1. "Brothers of the Sacred Heart," Online: https://www.brothersofsacredheart.org/about-us.html

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Brother Xavier Werneth, S. C. Email, January 25, 2020

5. Driscoll, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Justin A. With Faith and Vision: Schools of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, 1836-1966, Dubuque: Bureau of Education, Archdiocese of Dubuque, 1967, p. 2-3