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Founder
Blessed
Edmund Ignatius Rice
Edmund Ignatius Rice was born on 1 June 1762 in Callan, Ireland, during the terrible Penal Times.
Edmund was fortunate, as a Catholic, to receive a good education at home and in schools in Callan and Kilkenny.
Edmund joined his Uncle Michael Rice's business in Waterford, one of Europe's busiest ports, supplying
ships for long trips at sea. He eventually took over the business and at the age of 23 he married Mary Elliott in 1785.
Tragedy struck in January 1789, for his wife died after giving birth
to a disabled daughter, Mary. Edmund's life was never to be the same.
Now a wealthy man, Edmund was increasingly disturbed with the
lot of the poor Irish Catholics. Thirteen years after his wife died, and having provided for his daughter, he sold his business and began a night school for the "quay kids" of Waterford.
Edmund's first helpers deserted him leaving him desperate, but then two men from his native Callan joined him, not only to teach
but also to help Edmund found a religious order to educate poor boys.
By 1825 Edmund Rice and his 30 Christian Brothers were educating, free of charge, 5,500 boys in 12 different towns and
cities. Many were also being clothed and fed.
In 1829 the laws of the land caught up with Edmund and he was told by the Duke of Wellington that his order existed contrary to
the law. His order faced extinction.
Fortunately the Christian Brothers were not suppressed and by Edmund's death on 29 August 1844, Christian Brothers were
educating boys in Ireland, England and Australia (Sydney).
Currently 1,700 Christian Brothers are educators and carers of the poor in 28 countries around the world.
EDMUND'S STORY
Country Upbringing Practically every day we are made aware from our media that Ireland continues to have a stormy
relationship with England that has been going on for seven centuries. In 1695 Penal Laws were enacted in Ireland which greatly restricted the lives of Catholics and brought many of them untold
sorrow, deprivation and even death. Among the worst evils they had to suffer was to be deprived of education. When Edmund Rice was born, the
fourth of seven sons, on 1 June 1762 in Callan, County Kilkenny these laws were being enforced in a spasmodic fashion. Kilkenny was mercifully free of most of the oppression. So
Edmund was blessed to enjoy a happy country upbringing with a good education received at home and in schools in Callan and Kilkenny City.
Waterford
At the age of 17, Edmund joined his Uncle Michael Rice in Waterford (then the second busiest port in Europe) in his
business of supplying ships with all they needed for long trips at sea. When he was 23, Edmund married Mary Elliott who was from a well-to-do family. But less than four years later tragedy
struck for Mary died after giving birth to a daughter, Mary, who was disabled in some way. It seems Mrs Rice was either injured in a horse-riding accident during her pregnancy, or suffered from
a fever that raged through Ireland in 1789. She died after the birth of her daughter in January 1789.
Edmund Rice was a tragically changed man, although he has left us very little of how all this affected him. Of course Edmund could
have remarried just as his mother had done after the death of her first husband. But God was calling him in another direction.
Edmund called in his step-sister Joan Murphy to help him care for his disabled daughter; he developed the business which he
inherited from his uncle in 1795; his attraction to, and care of, the poor of Waterford took on a new intensity; his prayer life deepened and his reading of the Scriptures and other spiritual
books grew more constant. In God's time Edmund was challenged by a Friar's love of prayer one night as they shared a
room in a country Inn on one of his business trips. Edmund determined then to become a monk in a monastery in Europe. However, when he shared this desire with a woman
friend in Waterford, she challenged him not to shut himself away in a monastery, but to do something significant for the many poor "quay kids" of Waterford, along the lines that Nano
Nagle and her Presentation Sisters were doing for poor girls in Cork. Her words sank deeply into Edmund's heart and brought about a change in his life.
Religious Order
of Men Having properly cared for his daughter, in 1802 Edmund began a night school for the uneducated boys from the quays of
Waterford. His deep desire was to found a religious order of men who would educate these poor boys so that they could live with dignity and high self-esteem. But his volunteer assistants
could not stick it. Neither could the paid teachers he later employed. Just when his spirits were lowest, and he looked a failure to all his business colleagues, two men from his native
Callan joined him not only to educate these unruly boys but also to join Edmund in his plan to found a religious order. To do such a thing was contrary to the law. Nevertheless Edmund and his
growing number of companions went ahead and in 1808 seven of them took religious vows under Bishop Power of Waterford. They were called Presentation Brothers. This was the first
congregation of men to be founded in Ireland and one of the few ever founded in a Church by a layman. Edmund had in the meantime built a substantial school out of his own money, but it
was already proving too small for the many boys who flocked to him for an education.
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Gradually an extraordinary transformation took place in the "quay kids" of Waterford. Edmund and his Brothers educated them,
clothed and fed them. Other Bishops in Ireland supplied him with men whom he prepared for religious life and teaching. In this way the Presentation Brothers spread throughout Ireland.
However, the groups in separate dioceses were not under Edmund's control but the Bishop's. This created problems when Brothers were needed to be transferred. So Edmund sought and
ultimately obtained approval from Pope Pius VII for his Brothers to be made into a pontifical congregation with Edmund as Superior General; he was then able to move Brothers to
wherever they were most needed. From this time on they were called Christian Brothers. By 1825 there were 30 Christian Brothers working in 12 towns and cities and educating 5,500
boys, free of charge. Many of these boys were also being clothed and fed.
Give
to the poor in handfuls
Edmund's life was shot through with a spirituality that was strong
and practical: he was forever caring for the poor in the wretched circumstances of their lives, for he believed there was a great need "to give to the poor in handfuls". Many people, both men
and women, from many cultures, young and old were helped and given hope and purpose and a new footing in life. He and his Brothers even cared for the inmates of the jails of Waterford.
Edmund was privileged to comfort and accompany many a condemned man to the gallows. The poor never forgot his love for them and saw Edmund as "a man raised up by God".
Edmund endured many and severe trials and in 1829 it seemed the Christian Brothers were going to be suppressed by the law of
the land; they faced extinction. This did not eventuate. An even worse trial came to Edmund personally when some of his own
Brothers tried to undermine his work. Fortunately they did not succeed. Edmund had given his Brothers as their motto a text from the Book of Job that had meant so much to him in his life:
"The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord forever". Job1:21. In 1838, at the age of 76, he retired from leadership of the congregation,
and went to live in Waterford where he died on 29 August 1844.
Blessed Edmund Rice
The astute businessman, loving husband, devoted father, grieving widower, innovative educator, courageous founder,
compassionate champion of the poor, Edmund Rice was declared to be Blessed Edmund Rice by Pope John Paul II in Rome on 6 October 1996.
His
Feast Day in the Catholic Church is 5 May.
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