Brothers of Charity - The Apostolic Works

The Apostolic Works

The care for elderly people

The first brothers started with the care of elderly men.; this first apostolic work continues even today and has developed specializations for patients suffering from Alzheimer and other types of senile dementia.

Education

In 1809, the Brother Jan porter of the Byloke hospice, started to teach the alphabet to some street urchins at the gate. Teaching developed numerous educational facilities in nursery, primary and secondary education. In 1820, a Brother novice was sent to Namur in order to take a teacher training course with the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Bro Benedict, the principal of the primary school in Bruges, translated and published a book on education from St John Baptist de la Salle in 1825. At the Brothers’ orphanages, much attention was paid to teaching the children a trade; this trend was continued at the later institutes for the disabled. Separate technical school were established. In 1996, in St Vincent Region in Belgium, instruction was given in 33 schools for mainstream nursery and primary education serving 8781 pupils with 820 staff; 15 mainstream secondary schools serving 7121 students with 1278 staff; and 7 special primary schools and 8 special trade schools serving 1253 students with 316 staff. The brothers are also involved in educational projects in other countries.

Care of the disabled

In 1823 two Brothers were sent to Prof. H.D. Guyot’s institute in Groningen in order to prepare the start of the school for the deaf at the Byloke. In 1825 and 1835, education for deaf children was started in Ghent and in Brussels respectively. Bro Cyril Piot wrote a manual for reading in 1872. From the very beginning, the Brussels institute also admitted blind children. From 1877, mentally disabled children (cared for by the BOC since 1840) were accommodated in a special institute in Ghent. Around the 2000 BOC had eight orthopedagogical institutes in Belgium: two for seriously disabled, four for mildly disabled, one for deaf, hearing-impaired and physically disabled, and another one for blind, deaf and hearing-impaired people. A total of 1700 staff care for 2600 disabled people. In mission countries, as well as in Ireland and the U.K., the Brothers of Charity Services are responsible for the administration of several establishments for the disabled. Bro Ebergist De Deyne published a book on “L’éducation sensorielle chez les enfants anormaux” in 1922; it broke new ground in special education.

Mental Health care

The Brothers of Charity have been involved in the care for the mentally ill in Belgium since 1815. They were guided by Dr J. Guislain, the first Belgian psychiatrist and doctor-in-chief of the two existing mental hospitals in Ghent. A brand new psychiatric institute began in 1857 and is still working nowadays. Dr J. Guislain Museum was inaugurated within the walls of this institute: it offers a survey of the evolution in mental health care and highlights the figures of Dr J. Guislain and Canon P.J. Triest. From 1820 on the Brothers took over or erected psychiatric institutes in many countries. Around 2000 the Brothers of Charity were caring for 5000 patients with 5100 staff in 13 institutes in Belgium. Congo, Rwanda and Burundi have each a psychiatric center. More recently, projects have been set up in India, The Ivory Coast, South Africa, Romania and Tanzania.

Developmental aid

Although the Brothers of Charity were not a missionary Congregation per definition, five Brothers were sent to the then Belgian Congo, namely to Lusambo, in 1911. Later on missionary Brothers settled in Rwanda and Burundi; in 1928 the first two houses were established in Transvaal (S. Africa). Dutch Brothers settled in Indonesia in particular, and in India (1936) for a few years. A house was founded in Cuba in 1950. Thereafter Peru, Japan, New Guinea, The Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, The Ivory Coast, India, Tanzania, Brazil, Vietnam, Nicaragua, etc. got one or more institutes managed by the Brothers of Charity. Originally, all mission work of the Brothers focused on education, but in recent years the care for the disabled and mentally ill has been developed abroad as well.

New needs

New initiatives in answer to new needs prove that the congregation is still open-minded and full of creativity when it comes to fulfilling its mission today.