Bicentennial of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart: From the light of a little candle to blazing flames

Over 1,000 religious brothers belonging to the Institute of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart now present in 33 countries all over the world will celebrate their 200th year founding anniversary, September 30, 2021.

Way back in 1821, the congregation was founded by Fr. Andre Coindre in Lyons, France – two years after the French Revolution in 1789, which had caused so much damage to the Catholic Church and its religious institution.

Armed with courage and confidence, Fr. Andre, a French diocesan priest, gathered the distressed children abandoned in streets, incarcerated in jails, and trapped in the debris as the aftermath of the destruction of the revolution and facilitated them ‘refuge’ – the girls were entrusted to the Religious of Jesus and Mary Sisters he co-founded with Claudine Thevenet and the boys to the lay teachers.

As a man of faith, Fr. Coindre envisioned a community of brothers trained to work for the poor children through the establishment of schools. This was the impetus for the formation of the first lay people to become consecrated members of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

After Father Coindre’s death in 1826, Brother Polycarp, the first Brother Superior General, assumed leadership of the struggling community. His tenure was marked by a period of tremendous growth. By the time of his death in 1859, the Institute had grown to over 400 Brothers in 70 schools.

In 1959, three Brothers from the Province of Ottawa in Canada came to the Philippines and took over the management of 220 high school boys from the Holy Cross Academy in Digos City, Davao del Sur which was under the management of the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM) sisters. The Brothers then established the Holy Cross Academy Boys’ Department which was later turned into Holy Cross College of Digos, and eventually renamed as Cor Jesu College. They also established the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Formation Center in Catalunan Grade, Davao City which later turned into Sacred Heart Spirituality Center, a venue for recollections, retreats, and seminars.

Today, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart-Delegation of the Philippines and the Cor Jesu College, Incorporated, in solidarity with the whole institute of the Brothers all over the world and all their lay collaborators stand side-by-side in the commemoration of this bicentennial celebration, reiterating the Founder’s motto: courage and confidence.

In retrospect, it all started with the light of a little candle, the compassion of Fr. Andre Coindre, and his compassion was the very compassion of God that spread throughout the earth like a great fire (cf. Lk. 12:49). (Bro. Ernesto A. Quidet Jr, SC)