8.

Paris: The Ecclesiastical The next day the Brothers decided to

spend the whole day and night in prayer,
Establishment without food or drink, imploring the help of
( 1702 – 1705) heaven in their anxiety and affliction. The
following day, they decided to leave their schools
One of the characteristic traits of DLS, in Paris and abandon the house. As they started
attested to in all the sources and highlighted by to make arrangements to depart, the news was
all the biographers, was his disciplined brought to the pastor of St. Sulpice. He
equanimity (serenety), his absolute calmness in immediately went to DLS and begged him to stop
the face of success or disaster. His typical them. At the same time, the Cardinal sent word
response in either case was: “God be blessed!” to parliament to suspend the decree of
This expression, deeply rooted in his own banishment and to leave things as they were.
implicit trust in divine Providence, concretizes After 10 days a compromise was
the spirit of faith that he wanted to communicate accepted, that DLS will not be taken from them,
to his disciples. In the Rule he wrote: and Fr. Bricot, their new superior will only come
The spirit of this Institute is first, a spirit of once a month. From then on the archdiocesan
faith, which should induce those who compose it authorities refused to get involved in the affairs
not to look upon anything but with the eyes of of the Brothers, especially in anything that
faith, not to do anything but in view of God, and to concerned the pastor of St. Sulpice.
attribute all to God, always entering into these
sentiments of Job: “The Lord gave and the Lord The Persistent Pastor
has taken away; as it has pleased the Lord, so it is De La Chetardie did not give up so easily.
done.” Once he understood that he could not dislodge
The Expansions of DLS Schools created DLS by invoking church authority, he had
jealousy & oppositions from other sector of recourse to more indirect means. The
French society. replacement of Fr. Bricot as the ecclesiastical
superior of the Brothers was a priest close to De
Fr. De La Chetardie: The Secret Enemy La Chetardie. During his visits to the brothers he
questions and offered changes to the austerity of
Fr. De La Chetardie their lifestyle and telling them
was the Pastor of the Parish that they are opposing God’s will
of St. Sulpice. He was by preferring DLS to the
responsible for opening the appointee of the Cardinal.
schools of DLS in Paris. He Although most of the Brothers
was considered the secret treated him as intruder and
enemy of DLS & the brothers avoided him as much as possible,
because visibly he was a some Brothers (about 8 to 9) fell
saintly and wise shepherd victim to his blandishments,
that cared for his flock, decided to leave the Institute.
enterprising and tireless, De La Chetardie accused
generous and sensitive to the DLS of writing the letter made by
needs of the poor. He does one Brother defending himself
not seem to have been not to be trained in skills needed
ambitious, when he refused to teach in Sunday School, where
the offer to make him Bishop upon he even called DLS ‘liar’,
of Poitiers in 1702. But which the founder was surprised
despite all of this, he has a by such insult.
hidden motive of controlling
the Institute making the Loss of the Grand Maison
Brothers as his own. This This continued
hidden motive was probably started from a interference in the affairs of the community led
growing resentment against DLS for his some of the Brothers to urge the Founder to
unwilling to change his views in matters of move novitiate and his headquarters to some
policy and DLS consistent refusal to allow any other location outside the parish of St. Sulpice.
interference in the affairs of the community or By 1703 the house was put up for sale,
the schools of the Brothers. sold, but the new owner allowed the Brothers to
This was shown when he did not show stay for a while for free. It was at this time that a
any support to DLS & the Brothers when their ghost of the nun Sr. Fiacre show her
schools were attacked by Writing masters & dissatisfaction about the Brothers leaving by
Masters of Little Schools until the Brothers left turning the furniture’s in the house upside down
Paris in July of 1706. when every body are sleeping. By August of
He was also responsible for writing to the 1703, the Brothers left Grande Maison for good.
Cardinal discrediting DLS as not fit to be the They had been only 5 years in a house that might
head of the Brothers upon the case of 2 Novices, otherwise have become the center of a
who went to him to complain about the physical prosperous educational enterprise. But Divine
beatings from their Novice Director – Br. Jean- Providence had other plans.
Henri, which prompted Cardinal Noailles to
send his 70 years old vicar-general, Fr. Edme The Rue de Charonne
Pirot, to conduct an on-the-spot investigation. DLS and the Brothers transferred their
The investigation lasted for a month , community and novitiate at Rue de Charonne.
after which Pirot made a report to the Cardinal This new house was located in the distant
which was never made known to DLS. The outskirt of St. Antoine not far from Bastille. Just
report must have been negative because this across their house was the community of the
prompted the Cardinal to appoint a new Dominican Sisters of the Cross. This Sisters
superior of the Brothers in the person of Fr. supported the Brothers not only in their masses
Bricot. A moved that resulted a revolt among but also in their schools. They allowed the
the Brothers. Brothers to use their chapel for mass and

prayers and ask the founder if they he can be
their confessor, which DLS granted but with
considerable reluctance.
For the next several years, this
community of Sisters was the principal source of
support for the Brothers whenever they needed
help, even after the school on the Rue de
Charonne had to be closed. The Sisters could
afford to be generous because the convent was
well endowed and well known – and many of the
Sisters were from noble families with influential
connections. Often in later years, when DLS
would be at the end of his resources, he would
say to the Brothers, “Let us go to the Cross.” The
Sisters of the Cross never let him down.
By September of 1703, a new novitiate of
the Brothers, a new school and a new Sunday
Academy for working teenagers opened in this
new location. A huge placard was hung over the
door of this new institution Freres des Ecoles
Chretiennes. This was a way of proclaiming to
the world that the Society had found its identity,
that it had achieved a modicum of independence,
at least from the pastor of St. Sulpice, and that it
was prepared to move ahead with the business
of providing Christian teachers and a quality
Christian education for the poor.