The Institute of the Brothers of Christian Schools (called the Christian Brothers in the United States) was founded in 1680 in France by the seventeenth-century educator and priest St. John Baptist de La Salle. The eldest in a wealthy and very socially prominent family, he was shown that young boys from the poorest families in his city were the most neglected group in the educational services available. He wrote in his memoirs decades later that he was led by God to get involved in the schools and eventually to found an order of brothers “to give a Christian education especially to children of the working class and the poor” and to “teach them to lead good lives by instructing them in the mysteries of our holy religion.”
St. de La Salle modernized primary-school education. He introduced a standard curriculum, and he chose to use the local language to teach courses, rather than Latin, which was standard at the time.
In 1817, the first Christian Brothers to arrive in the New World were recruited from France by Bishop William Louis Dubourg, bishop of the Diocese of New Orleans. After a ten-week voyage, Dubourg and 35 others aboard the ship, La Caravane, landed in Annapolis, MD. The group then made its way to Pittsburgh and eventually to St. Louis by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Just south of St. Louis, in a town called St. Genevieve, the Brothers opened their first school in the US on January 8, 1819. This first school was successful, and Dubourg sought to expand the model to other locations under his administration. Despite a rule that required the Brothers to live in communities with a minimum of three members, the men separated in 1823 and were sent to different locations—including New Orleans. That small group did not endure.
In 1849, New Orleans Bishop Antoine Blanc made a persuasive plea to Brother Facile, head of the Brothers in North America, for Brothers to open a school in New Orleans. The following year, four Brothers were sent, and the first Christian Brothers’ Community in New Orleans was established. The first school opened and staffed by Christian Brothers was St. Patricks parish's Free School for Boys, which opened in January 1851. The school was such a success that four more brothers were sent the next year to instruct 360 students. A new building was erected and named St. Mary’s Academy. More schools followed in other parishes. Nineteenth-century New Orleans was not easy on the Brothers; the 1853 yellow-fever epidemic killed all but the local director, Brother Andronis. The Brothers managed to keep their schools open until the end of the 1900 school year. This list gives the beginning, end, revival and final ending of the schools they founded in New Orleans during the last half of the nineteenth century.
St. Mary's Free School for Boys (Foucher street, under St. Patrick parish), 1851–1858, 1870–1875
St. Mary’s Academy (later called St. Mary's College), 1856–1875, 1880–1883
St. John the Baptist's parochial school, 1859–1871, 1878–1881
St. Joseph's parochial school, 1859–1862, 1878–1880
St. Vincent’s Academy (Faubourg Bouligny), 1860–1875
St. Theresa's parochial school, 1864–1875
St. Joseph's Commercial Academy, 1883–1900
At the end of the 1900 school year, the Christian Brothers withdrew from St. Joseph’s Commercial Academy, the last of their schools in New Orleans. This 50-year history is worthy of being remembered by those who took up the same work in the twentieth century and those carrying it today.
None of those who left in 1900 returned, but in 1918, another group of Christian Brothers began a new start in Louisiana. This second beginning marks the start of a century of continuous service in Louisiana.
In 1917, Archbishop James H. Blenk wrote to the Christian Brothers and asked them to send Brothers back to New Orleans; however, Blenk's death shortly after delayed their return. The following year, Christian Brothers opened a high school in New Iberia, called St. Peter’s College. Another group of 19 brothers was sent to replace the Benedictine Fathers at a high school in Covington, called St. Paul’s College. Their contract stipulated that St. Paul’s would be leased for 15 years with an annual rent of $2,500. The Brothers had the option of buying the property and all equipment within five years for $60,000. School started on September 5, 1918 with 24 day students and 33 boarders. The number of students rose steadily, and on June 22, 1921, the deed of sale was signed.
As years progressed, the Christian Brothers expanded their field of labor from Covington (1918) and New Iberia (1918) to Lafayette (1919), Franklin (1925), Lake Charles (1927), and eventually New Orleans (1949). In the years that followed, more schools opened or were staffed by the Brothers in Opelousas (1955), Metairie (1960), Broussard (1977), and Shreveport (1984). Today, the Christian Brothers are active in four Louisiana schools: St. Paul’s High School in Covington; De La Salle High School in New Orleans; Christian Brothers School in New Orleans; and Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie.