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Manuals
Lasallian Story I
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Scubilion Rousseau, FSC
The first Brothers had come to the island of Bourbon sixteen years before the arrival of Brother Scubilion, in response to a stirring appeal issued in the year 1816 by Brother Gerbaud, then Superior General:
“Renew your zeal, my very dear Brothers, you who desire to cross the seas to announce the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, reawaken that zeal of yours, a zeal that is pure, disinterested, humble and generous. For ‘if the salt loses its savor, what good is it?’ We want no part of those hearts that are backward or afraid, that lack courage and generosity. . . .
“The point is this: we want to select six fervent religious, or at least six who are willing to become so, six Francis Xaviers, six Apostles. Although we lack the awesome dignity and title of Apostle, we are yet called upon to do the same work as they. Oh, my very dear Brothers, who will give us hearts like that of Augustine, hearts burning with divine love to set on fire the island of Bourbon and ready for all that awaits us there in the long project ahead? It is hearts such as these that the mission needs, hearts generously resolved to die if it be necessary, either in the waves or in any other way that Providence may decree. . . . Let us begin by being martyrs in resolution. . . let us make ourselves worthy of God, let us defend ourselves against inertia. . . . Let us put on the armor of faith. . . . Let the New Testament, the Following of Christ, the Collection and the rosary be our dear and only companions.”
Seventeen years later, Brother Scubilion set sail--he must have received his new assignment with great joy, grateful that his offer to sacrifice himself for the glory of God had been accepted. Whether through lack of time or authorization, or through a voluntary spirit of self-sacrifice, he left directly for the ship without the consolation of saying good-bye to his younger brother and sister or to his mother, who was then sixty-four years old. This is the more remarkable, since in that era it was consid ered most unlikely that departing missionaries should return and so it turned out for Brother Scubilion.
Lasallian Stories
Brother Scubilion Rousseau, FSC: Apostle of Freedom and Reconciliation, Luke Salm, FSC. (Romeoville: Christian Brothers Publications), 1986, p. 52, 43.
Lasallian Story II Miguel Febres Cordero, FSC
Like many a young man before and since, it was the initial and close contact with the Brothers that convinced Francisco, almost from the start, that God, was indeed calling him to share the life and the apostolate of the sons of De La Salle. In the mature reflection of his later years, Brother Miguel expressed it in his own words:
“From the moment I entered the school of the Brothers, God gave me a burning desire one day to be clothed in the holy habit of the Institute. I always enjoyed being among the Brothers. I used to make spiritual reading with them and sometimes I was allowed to join with them in the Office of the Blessed Virgin and the Office of the Dead, though some of the members of my family were not happy that I did so.
“My teachers were Brothers Junianus and Adelphus. But more than any other it was the Brother Director who made an impression on me, so devoted was he to our instruction and education. Despite his bad health and infirmities, he never abandoned us, though often, when he was crippled with rheumatism, he had to be carried into class in a chair in order to be with us.
“He frequently talked to us of Our Lord, of our good Mother Mary, and of Saint Joseph, and gave us a great love for them. During catechism he taught us to love virtue and to hate sin, stressing the need to avoid bad companions. His success as a teacher was due not to severity but to trusting us on our honor and by showing kindness. One look from him was enough to bring a recalcitrant to tears and reformation. I firmly believe that God made use of him and his example to give me a great love for the religious life.”
Lasallian Stories
Brother Miguel Febres Cordero, FSC: Teacher, Scholar, Saint, Luke Salm, FSC. (Romeoville: Christian Brothers Publications), 1984, pp. 21-22.
Lasallian Story III Charles Henry Buttimer, FSC
As an older man, Tom (Brother Charles) told me why he had decided to become a Christian Brother. “For myself,” he wrote in 1975, my meeting was with a community, not with a person. I remember the day when I discovered the mystery of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the mystery of the vocation of religious educators; when I felt the call to this state of life. I then felt the compulsion, the absolute necessity of making myself one with that community, a joyous and irresistible necessity which was not there before!
He implied in a newspaper interview that his fascination with the Christian Brothers had been based not so much on an abstract ideal as on a close personal relationship. “I became attached to them,” he said of his teachers, “during my school years. They were men of great esteem. It was the influence of a man on a younger man.” That older man was probably Brother Charles Austin, one of Tom’s teachers at Ascension, most likely in the fifth and sixth grades. Lasallian Stories
The Gentle American: The Life and Times of Brother Charles Henry Buttimer, First American Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Ronald Eugene Isetti, FSC. (Landover: Christian Brothers Publications), 1994, pp. 45-46.
Lasallian Story IV Solomon LeClerq, FSC
The fifteenth of August (1792), which was the feast of the Assumption, was a dismal one with no religious service to mark the occasion, and with the whole atmosphere thick with suspicion and suspense. That Brother Solomon realized how tense the situation was, may be gauged from the letter he wrote on this day to Marie-Barbe (his sister) for her feast. It exudes a feeling of foreboding.
I wish you happiness and a joyful feast [he began]. I pray that you may spend it in good health with your dear family, and in peace and quiet, so rare in our day. May our perfect submission to the will of God satisfy for every other consolation. Let us suffer all it may please Him to permit, and let us remain faithful to Him. The sorrows we meet with are passing; the recompense we strive after will be eternal. Let us make up for the religious devotions which circumstances no longer permit us to practise, by pious reading, by prayer, and by meditation.
Apply yourself to work, in the presence of God [he continues]. Watch over your thoughts, over your words and all your actions, so as to do nothing which might offend God or your neighbour. We should hold ourselves in the state in which we would like to be when we appear before the Sovereign Judge, for such is the way of life of a Christian who has faith. We should regard all earthly things like riches, pleasures, and the goods of this life, as mere vanity, well suited to amuse men of flesh and blood, but incapable of satisfying the soul which knows itself to be created to enjoy God and possess Him for all eternity.
Try to cultivate these sentiments in your children whom I embrace with much tenderness. If God permits I shall come and join you, and mingle my tears with yours. But no! What do I say? Why should we weep since the gospel tells us to rejoice when we have something to endure for his name’s sake? Let us then suffer joyfully and with thanksgiving the crosses and afflictions which he may send us. As for myself, it would seem that I am not worthy to suffer for him, since I have not as yet encountered any trials, whereas so many confessors of Jesus Christ are in affliction.
This was the last letter he ever wrote. At eight o’clock that same evening fifty soldiers surrounded the house, examined everything, placed official seals everywhere, and led him off to the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, where the tribunal sat, and then to the Carmelite prison.
Lasallian Stories
Brother Solomon: Martyr of the French Revolution, W. J. Battersby. (New York: MacMillan Company), 1960, pp. 153-154.
Lasallian Story V John Baptist de La Salle
On a cold winter’s morning of February 1688 three of us started on the road south toward Paris. Before leaving Reims, Father de La Salle, Brother Antoine and I, had lingered at the cemetery where our Brothers were buried. Our remembrance of Brother Bourlette and the other Brothers resting there was to be a source of courage and determination during the days of travel.
The closer we got to Paris, the more people we met on the road, all heading in the same direction. War and famine had reduced most of them to utter poverty. They were hoping no doubt to better their lot in the capital. One old man and his son, intrigued by our strange appearance, walked with us for a short while as we entered the city. When he learned we were going to Princess Street, he couldn’t hide his astonishment.
“That section of the city is no place for the likes of you,” he said. “It has a bad reputation.”
“We’ll try to give it a better one, if we can,” Father de La Salle answered.
At that the old man turned aside shaking his head as much as to say: “You’re out of your mind if you think you can do anything about it.”
Once within the city limits of Paris, we easily reached the parish rectory at Saint Sulpice and were told that the pastor, Father de La Barmondiere, was at the school. On arriving there, we found the street door wide open and no one in the passageway leading to the classes.
Then, of a sudden, the silence was broken by loud screaming coming from a classroom to the right, ahead of us. The sound was familiar to me. If Rafrond were still here, he must be up to his old tricks again, I thought.
As we hurried to the door, it opened of itself and Rafrond stepped out, almost bumping into Father de La Salle. I recognized him at once. It was the same old Rafrond who ran the school years ago.
“Excuse me, your Reverence. You see, I thought for a moment you were Father de La Barmondiere. I’ve had to punish one of the lads and I was going to fetch the Pastor. You couldn’t by any chance be Father de La Salle? I remember when you came to teach catechism here years ago. I am Rafrond, you will remember. I’m in charge of the weaving shop now. Father Compagnon is the director of the school. You came just in time. Thanks to you, I can breathe freely again, at least for a while.”
“Monsieur Rafrond, this is Brother Antoine and Brother Francois. Maybe you remember Jacques Delanot. He came to school here as a boy.”
“That little rogue! I can’t believe it. Are you going to take over the classes? I knew some new teachers were coming, but I had no idea they would look like you. Excuse me if I say your attire is a bit strange. It won’t help you any. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Monsieur de La Salle. These youngsters are a bunch of scamps and nothing more. They’re worse than in the days of Delanot. The only language they understand is the rod. When you want to get results with them, just remember that.”
“There must be some other way.”
“I speak from experience, mind you. Take my word for it.”
“We shall see. Now, could you tell me where I can find Father de La Barmondiere?”
“Of course. Come this way.”
Father de La Salle followed Rafrond down a corridor and finally into a room at the back of the building. Brother Antoine and I waited in an empty classroom.
“What a reception!” Antoine said. “It looks like we’re going to have trouble. It’s one thing to open a new school and run it the way Father de La Salle does, and quite another to step into someone else’s boots.”
“You’re right. At any rate, it’s going to be an interesting experience. I’m willing to give it a try.”
Lasallian Stories
Beyond the Boundaries, Leo. C. Burkhard, FSC. (Lafayette: New Orleans-Santa Fe province of the De La Salle Christian Brothers), 1994, pp. 58-61.
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