Expansion
Under the leadership of Brother John, and under the watchful eye and guidance of the diocesan clergy, to whom they were subject, the young Congregation grew rapidly and spread from its cradle in Aachen to other parts of Germany.
In 1866 the Congregation spread to the United States, where orphanages for boys were established in Teutopolis, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Cincinnati, Ohio (1868) and Cold Spring, Kentucky (1869), through a donation by Sarah Worthington Peter. In 1869 the Congregation also received the charge of a Catholic orphanage in Moabit, near Berlin. In Germany, however, the policy of Kulturkampf by the German government led to the loss of all their houses in Prussia during 1876-77. They then moved to Bleijerheide on the German-Dutch border, where the new motherhouse was erected.
After 1888 the Brothers were allowed to return to Prussia and entirely new houses were founded: Hohenhof in Upper Silesia (1891); Dormagen on the Rhine (1902), Düsseldorf (1932), etc. At the last location, they currently run a senior housing complex for 189 residents, and various social services and a trade school. Foundations were also made in Belgium at Völkerich (1900) and in the Netherlands at Roermond (1903).
The Constitutions of the Congregation were approved by Pope Pius X in 1910. With that, they became a congregation of Pontifical (international) right, generally free to conduct their affairs without the supervision of local bishops.
In 1921 the American Brothers began to work in Arkansas, where they established several institutions over the next fifteen years. They also expanded to Iowa, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and South Dakota, mostly in the field of youth work. In 1986, they purchased the Woodlands Treatment Center, a facility for drug and alcohol dependent youth in Burlington, Iowa. As of 2011, they appear to have withdrawn from all ministries in Iowa.
Today the Brothers also serve in Brazil.
Read more about this topic: Poor Brothers Of St. Francis
Famous quotes containing the word expansion:
“Every expansion of government in business means that government in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors and wrongs is driven irresistibly without peace to greater and greater control of the nation’s press and platform. Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“The fundamental steps of expansion that will open a person, over time, to the full flowering of his or her individuality are the same for both genders. But men and women are rarely in the same place struggling with the same questions at the same age.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)
“Artistic genius is an expansion of monkey imitativeness.”
—W. Winwood Reade (1838–1875)