Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools /

The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (also known as the Christian Brothers, the Lasallian Brothers, the French Christian Brothers, or the De La Salle Brothers; French: Frères des écoles chrétiennes; Latin: Fratres Scholarum Christianarum) is a Roman Catholic religious teaching congregation, founded in France by Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle and now based in Rome. Brothers use the post-nominal abbreviation FSC. He trained and organized a group of men to live in community and conduct the schools. He is credited with establishing a regimen of education which emphasised the good of the student, banning corporal punishment from their institutions. The founding of the Institute is generally dated to 1680. It was the first religious community of men in the Roman Catholic Church not to include clergy, the Institute being composed solely of lay brothers. At one point, Jean-Baptiste de La Salle had one brother, Henri L'Heureux, study for the priesthood, with the intention of having him take over the supervision of the Institute. However, Br. Henri soon became ill and died unexpectedly the night prior to his ordination. Jean-Baptiste took this as a sign from God that the