The history of the Congregation of Holy Cross begins in 1820, the year in which Father James Dujarié

founded a group of lay Brothers at Ruillé-sur-Loir in France.

Although he was a much beloved pastor, Father Dujarié felt he did not know the rudiments for male religious formation, and so he sent one of his first members, Brother André Mottais, to Paris for six months to study spirituality with the Christian Brothers.

Brother André Mottais served as the first novice master for the Brothers of St. Joseph.

(Painting of Brother André by Harold Ruplinger, CSC.)

The little group of religious Brothers struggled to stay together, but there were numerous defections over the years.

As Father Dujarié grew older, he found himself unable to direct the Brothers of St. Joseph. Looking around for a priest to take over his duties, he selected a young teacher at the St. Vincent seminary in Le Mans, Basil Anthony Mary Moreau.

(Bas-relief of Father Moreau by James Kane, CSC.)


Father Moreau did not experience the hardships of the French Revolution to the same degree as Father Dujarié had experienced them. He was ordained in a public ceremony in Le Mans, whereas his predecessor had to hide out in farms, take Holy Orders in secret, and practice his ministry on the run for years.
Moreau was born in 1799 in Lagné-en-balin, close to Le Mans. His father was a wine merchant, and the boy enjoyed a fine education, eventually studying at Chateau Gontier and at Saint Sulpice in Paris.


Moreau joined the Brothers of St. Joseph to a group of auxiliary priests he had formed in the area of Le Mans known as "Holy Cross." Thus the new community soon became known as the "Congregation of Holy Cross."
One of the buildings at the first novitiate for the Brothers at Charbonnière, just north of the Solitude of the Marianite Sisters in Le Mans. Today some of the buildings are apartments.

Getting official recognition of the community was not easy as Bishop Bouvier of Le Mans delayed the approbation of the Constitutions for almost twenty years.


In 1841 Father Moreau sent six Brothers to work in the Indiana Territory at the request of the local bishop there, Celestine de la Helandière. Brothers Vincent, Joachim, Lawrence, Francis Xavier, Anselm, and Gatian arrived with their chaplain at New York after a hazardous trip across the Atlantic. Brother Vincent, at age 44, was the spiritual mentor of the group. He came to the Community during the days of Father Dujarié.

Joachim was the first to die in the New World, within the first year that the group founded Notre Dame, Indiana. Lawrence survived a disastrous trip to look for gold in California in 1850. He was the business manager and farmer for the university. Francis Xavier lived until 1890, having served as carpenter and mortician for the Notre Dame area for over fifty years.

 

Anselm died too young, aged 20, while swimming in the Ohio River at Madison, Indiana, where he had taught the previous year.

Gatian, the brightest of the group, arrived in the Indiana territory at age 15. After going on the gold rush trip with Lawrence, he stayed in California and left the Congregation, the only one of the group not to persevere.


In 1838, by gathering four young women to organize a small community, Father Moreau fulfilled his dream of having both men and women serve in the Congregation of Holy Cross. The Marinanites thrived under the direct supervision of Mother Mary of the Seven Dolors.


Eventually the Sisters divided into three groups, and so they remain today: the Marianites with headquarters in New Orleans, the Sisters of the Holy Cross with headquarters at St. Mary's (Notre Dame), and the Sisters of Holy Cross with headquarters in Montreal.


Today Holy Cross men and women religious serve around the world. A few of their institutions are:





Work on the history of the Holy Cross Congregations continues to be done by the Holy Cross History Association. Consult its Website for details.

A bibliography of Holy Cross history can be found on the bibliography Website.

To learn more about the Brothers of Holy Cross, the Priests of Holy Cross (Eastern Province or Indiana Province), the Marianite Sisters, the Sisters of Holy Cross, or the Sisters of the Holy Cross, consult their respective Websites.




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