Religious brother

This was encouraged by a spiritual reliance among the general membership of the Catholic Church upon the prayers of monastics to achieve salvation.

One practical consequence of this situation was that the bulk of the physical work which needed to be done for the simple survival of the monastic community came to be done by men who volunteered their services on a full-time basis, and who followed a less severe regimen of prayer.

Called donates or oblati, they were not considered to be monks, but they were nonetheless gradually accepted as members of the monastic community.

In other communities, a separate labor force of "lay brothers" or conversi was cultivated in order to handle the temporal business of the abbey.

A rigid class system emerged from this arrangement in which the clerics (priests and seminarians) exercised complete control over the lay brothers.

A leading figure of this approach was St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle, a canon of Reims cathedral, who began to help the poor children of the city.

As he was gradually drawn into education as a means for this purpose, he established a new congregation of men for this work, who were called the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.

The social devastations of the 18th and 19th centuries saw the gradual emergence of other similar congregations of men, dedicated primarily to education.

[4] Since the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) many brothers have moved toward professional and academic occupations, especially in the areas of nursing, education, peace, and justice.

Brothers in communities with priests and seminarians often undertake advanced studies and enjoy equal standing with ordained members.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as Mormons, adults female and male are often referred to sisters and brothers respectively.