The Little Brothers of Jesus Caritas (; abbreviated and stylised jc) are a male

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – in that members take simple vows, whereas members of religio ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. They follow the life and inspiration of

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Charles de Foucauld Charles Eugène de Foucauld de Pontbriand, Viscount of Foucauld (15 September 1858 – 1 December 1916) was a French soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara in Al ...

History

The Little Brothers of Jesus Caritas were officially recognised in 1969 by the

Bishop of Foligno The Diocese of Foligno ( la, Dioecesis Fulginatensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Umbria, Italy. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of P ...

. It was founded under the leadership of Gian Carlo Sibilia, who was mentored and guided by Carlo Carretto, himself a member of the

Little Brothers of the Gospel The Little Brothers of the Gospel (; abbreviated PFE) are a male Catholic religious congregation of diocesan right. The movement was founded in 1956 by René Voillaume, the first superior general of the Little Brothers of Jesus, to evangelise ...

. In 1979, the use of

Sassovivo Abbey The Abbey of Sassovivo is a Benedictine monastery in Umbria in central Italy. Administratively, it is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Foligno. Geography The abbey lies in an ancient oak wood, 6 km from Foligno. Located at an altitude of ...

was handed over to the congregation. At Carretto's death in 1988, he willed his archive to the custody of the congregation, and it is presently kept at Sassovivo Abbey. On 21 July 2017, the congregation elected Paolo Maria Barducci to succeed Sibilia as

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

of the congregation. On 31 July 2017,

Gabriele Faraghini Gabriele is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name Surname *Al Gabriele, American comic book artist * Angel Gabriele (1956–2016), American comic book artist *Corrado Gabriele (born 1966), Italian polit ...

, a priest of the congregation, was appointed by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the

Pontifical Roman Major Seminary , type = Major seminary , established = , founder = Pope Pius IV , parent = Diocese of Rome , religious_affiliation = Catholic Church , rector = Gabriele Fara ...

Organisation

Locations

The Little Brothers of Jesus Caritas have three houses: *

Spello Spello (in Antiquity: Hispellum) is an ancient town and ''comune'' (township) of Italy, in the province of Perugia in eastern-central Umbria, on the lower southern flank of Mt. Subasio. It is 6 km (4 mi) NNW of Foligno and 10 km (6 ...

, Italy — mother house of the congregation *

Sassovivo The Abbey of Sassovivo is a Benedictine monastery in Umbria in central Italy. Administratively, it is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Foligno. Geography The abbey lies in an ancient oak wood, 6 km from Foligno. Located at an altitude of ...

, Italy — in a former Benedictine abbey *

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

— in a house once owned by Charles de Foucauld From 1990 to July 2021, the congregation also resided in the

Abbey of San Guglielmo al Goleto 250px, The Abbey of San Guglielmo al Goleto. The Abbey of San Guglielmo al Goleto is a Benedictine monastery in Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, province of Avellino, region of Campania Italy. The monastery was founded by Saint William of Vercelli in t ...

List of priors

* 1969–2017: Gian Carlo Sibilia * 2017–present: Paolo Maria Barducci

Activity

The daily routine of the Little Brothers of Jesus Caritas includes

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

and the

Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (Latin: ''Liturgia Horarum'') or Divine Office (Latin: ''Officium Divinum'') or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the ...

, as well as manual labour and providing pastoral services to parishes. They also host retreatants that temporarily live with the community. The congregation typically lives in small communities. The congregation also publishes a periodical titled ''Jesus Caritas.''

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.jesuscaritas.it/, name=Official website (in Italian) Catholic orders and societies Catholic religious institutes established in the 20th century