This year marks the 300th anniversary of the papal bull “In Apostolicae Dignitatis Solio,” which was signed by Pope Benedict XIII on January 26, 1725, to officially recognize the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Former Superior General Brother Robert Schieler, FSC, reflects on its significance then and now.
The following is an excerpt from Brother Bob’s article:
“While overjoyed at this recognition of their Institute, the Brothers did not realize that the Bull’s prologue domesticated the Institute’s charism. The newness of what Saint La Salle and the first Brothers were doing in the education of the children and in their community life together, went beyond traditional religious life as understood by the Church at the time. Canon Blain, one of De La Salle’s first biographers, wrote that when the Brothers decided to call themselves ‘Brothers’, these ‘early disciples of John Baptist de La Salle discerned that God was calling them to live a new and still evolving form of consecration to God as educators of poor children.’ The Church, at the time, did not understand the work of the Holy Spirit in raising up this new way of the Gospel. They could only place the charism into the known religious congregation categories of the time.”