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Founded in Le Mans, France in 1837 by Father Basil Moreau, the Congregation of Holy Cross (Congregatio a Sancta Cruce) is a Catholic congregation of priests and brothers. Father Moreau also founded the Marianites of Holy Cross, which has since been divided into three independent congregations of sisters: the Marianites of Holy Cross in Le Mans, France; the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Notre Dame, Indiana; and the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Montreal, Canada. Born Basile Antoine-Marie Moreau in the final months of the French Revolution, Father Moreau was raised at a time and place where the Catholic Church was under tremendous persecution, stripped of land, resources and rights. He had to do his seminary training in secret in order to avoid arrest. In 1820, Father Jacques-Francois Dujarié, a priest in the Diocese of Le Mans, France, brought a group of men together to serve the educational needs of the people of the French countryside, and named this group of people the Brothers of Saint Joseph. None of these men were vowed religious, and they had no formal standing within the Church. By 1835, this group was established within the diocese but Father Dujarié was slowing down, and the group was in need of a new leader. Meanwhile, Father Moreau had formed a similar group that he called Auxiliary Priests. The two men met, and decided that Father Moreau was the man to be given control of the Brothers of St. Joseph. Of course, he combined the two communities into one, at which time the group became the Association of Holy Cross. Originally, the group was a diocesan group, but in 1849 it took on the identity of a religious institute when Father Moreau and four others became the first professed religious in the Association of the Holy Cross. He then brought together the first group of women who would become the Marianites of Holy Cross. The association of priests, brothers and sisters became the Congregation of Holy Cross with the approval of Pope Pius IX in 1857.

 

 

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