Brothers of the Sacred Heart
The Brothers of the Sacred Heart (Latin: Fratres a Sacratissimo Corde Iesu) is a Catholic lay religious congregation of Pontifical Right for Men founded by André Coindre (1787–1826) in 1821.
Though the objective purpose of the congregation has evolved slightly over the years, its fundamental mission remains centered on the education of the young: in asylums, parochial and select schools, and colleges.
At that moment (which is part of our past, but could also be considered our origin, since it is one of the conditions that will cause the expansion of the Corazonistas) the brothers of the time will be able to leave behind the place where the idea arose, but that did not make them tremble when it came to moving forward, because the important thing is not the places or the physical things, but the small actions and words with which, day after day, they made it clear who they were, they were “corazonistas”.
Andrés Coindre was a French Catholic priest and founder of the Congregation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
After completing his training, he was assigned as vicar in Bourg-en-Bresse, where in addition to his parish duties, he demonstrated his abilities as a preacher and participated in the organization of missions to revitalize Christian life in the region.
In 1815, the vicar general of the diocese invited him to join a group of priests to form a team of itinerant missionaries, known as the "Carthusians".
Coindre stood out as coordinator and leader of these missions, where his eloquence and religious fervor left a deep impression on the faithful.
Coindre worked with St. Claudine Thévenet in 1815 establishing the Association of the Sacred Heart ion Lyon, which three years later became the congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary.
In 1821 he founded the Congregation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, dedicated to the education and training of young people, especially those most in need.
Though only a child at the time, out of this experience, he became committed to providing the moral, intellectual and religious development of the many boys left orphaned by the upheavals of this era.
The first steps toward a concrete expression of this vision took place with his participation in the foundation in 1815 of the Religious of Jesus and Mary by Claudine Thévenet, the daughter of a merchant in the silk trade, for which Lyon had become noted.
Under the guidance of Coindre, whom she had taken as her spiritual director, Thévenet gathered friends around her to offer shelter and basic education for poor girls, whom she considered the "weakest, the most shameful, the most deprived" of post-Revolutionary French society.
His vision finally became a reality with the admission of the first group of men to a new foundation of Brothers in 1821,[10] with Coindre himself acting as the Superior of the community, while remaining a secular priest attached to the Diocese.
At the period of its origin the social and political conditions in France, still undergoing huge upheavals from the Revolution, was very unfavorable to the growth of religious communities.
The question was referred to de Bonald, the Archbishop of Lyon, who, after an exhaustive examination, judged it advisable that Coindre should resign the office.
He had, moreover, at the invitation of Bishop Michael Portier of the Diocese of New Orleans, extended their presence to the United States, a new field of labor for the Institute, at Mobile, Alabama.
[12] Within twenty-five years, the Brothers in the United States had grown to such an extent that they were established as a separate Province of the Congregation.
In over 150 years the Brothers and faculty at St. Stanislaus have trained more than 10,000 young men in the principles of Christian doctrine and education.
[8] In 1939, at the request of Bishop Thomas Edmund Molloy, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart bought West Neck Farms in Huntington, Long Island, New York, intending to establish a boarding school and summer retreat.
[17] Not unlike many other religious communities in the Catholic Church, the congregation saw a tremendous surge in vocations just prior to the Second Vatican Council.
In the meadow known as "Roca del Aire", he built a small oratory where he placed an image of the Virgin Mary, which he often adorned with flowers; he often went there to pray.
Vocation: A generous will, a Christian life of integrity and the inclination his soul felt towards higher things all nourished by prayer and meditation.
Brother Polycarp's activity from 1830 to 1841: The civil war of July 1830 devastated the city of Lyon, and most of the novices had to return home.
In 1835, Brother Polycarp was elected second Assistant General, and at the same time he was entrusted with the formation of novices, first in Vals and then in Lyon (1837).
-Thanks to the good work of Brother Polycarp and the esteem he enjoyed, the Supreme Council of Public Instruction issued the decree of legal recognition on June 19, 1851.
Frequent illnesses, the enormous work of organizing and directing the Congregation, the incessant visits to the houses... so much so that he himself sensed the approaching end of his earthly career.
