Maurice-Auguste Hermans, FSC, J.C.D.
ABSTRACT
Through the extensive notes prepared for his presentations at the Centro Internazionale Lasalliano (Generalate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Rome, Italy) in 1983, the author provides a comprehensive orientation to the social, spiritual and political milieu in which John Baptist de La Salle and the first Brothers discerned what would become the Lasallian educational mission. The community of the Brothers is described from its formation, through the emergence of vows and of documents that guide and perpetuate community life. Embedded in the story are key benchmarks in establishing the juridical status of the Brothers. The narrative concludes at the beginning of the twentieth century. In recognition of their value to scholars studying Lasallian heritage, religious orders, and France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Brother Maurice-Auguste’s notes have been prepared and edited for publication by Brother William Mann.
KEYWORDS
De La Salle Christian Brothers; Catholic religious orders;
FULL TEXT
John Baptist De La Salle and the First Brothers: Christian Educators for the Society of Their Time
About the Author
Maurice-Auguste Hermans, FSC
Maurice-Auguste Hermans, FSC, J.C.D. (1911 – 1987) served as the first Director of Lasallian Studies (1956 – 1987), Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Brother Maurice-Auguste is recognized as the architect of the monumental series Cahiers lasalliens, through which has been disseminated the writings of John Baptist de La Salle and much of the twentieth-century scholarship about his life, spirituality, and pedagogy. He also served as Assistant Superior General and Procurator General of the Institute.