The Little Brothers of the Gospel (; abbreviated PFE) are a male

Catholic 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 ...

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 diocesan right. The movement was founded in 1956 by

René Voillaume René Voillaume (born 19 July 1905 in Versailles; died 13 May 2003 in Aix-en-Provence) was a French Catholic priest, theologian and founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus in 1933, the Little Brothers of the Gospel in 1956, and the Little Sister ...

, the first superior general of the Little Brothers of Jesus, to evangelise to the poor.''"Founder of Little Brothers and Little Sisters of the Gospel dies", Zenit News Agency, May 2003.'' It is one of a group of communities founded on inspiration of

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 ...

. , the prior of the Little Brothers of the Gospel is Andreas Knapp.

History

Background

was a priest and one of the founding members of the Little Brothers of Jesus, which was formed in 1933, inspired by the writings of

. They first established themselves in the Saharan oasis of El Abiodh Sidi Cheik. The Little Brothers of Jesus first lived a monastic form of life, but after World War II began to set up small "fraternities" in working-class neighbourhoods. As such, Voillaume decided to create a new congregation, branched off from the Little Brothers of Jesus, with a special focus on evangelising to the poor.

Formation

In 18 July 1956, at the orders of Voillaume, the first fraternity of the Little Brothers of the Gospel was formed in

Camargue Camargue (, also , , ; oc, label= Provençal, Camarga) is a region of France located south of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the ''Grand Rhône''; the western one is the ''P ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

consisting of three brothers. From 1956 to 1960, another four foundations were created in

Cần Thơ Cần Thơ, also written as Can Tho or Cantho (: , : ), is the fourth-largest city in Vietnam, and the largest city along the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam. It is noted for its floating markets, rice paper-making village, and picturesque rur ...

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

(1956), Bindua,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(1957),

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

(1959), and Portin Almos,

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(1960). The congregation was subsequently legally recognised as a religious congregation of the Little Brothers of the Gospel on 13 June 1968 by the bishop of

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

. In 1973, the brothers formed a central fraternity for the congregation in Cépie, France. This was later moved to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in 1981. The constitutions of the congregation were later revised and received approbation by

Cardinal Danneels Godfried Maria Jules Danneels (4 June 1933 – 14 March 2019) was a Belgian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and the chairman of the episcopal conference of his native countr ...

, bishop of Mechelen-Brussels, on 5 January 1986.

Activities

Among the declared three pillars of the congregation are: * Prayer; * Fraternity love; * Sharing the life of the poor. Through these three pillars of their life, the Little Brothers of the Gospel wants to spread the Good News of Jesus. They are present in Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Spain, etc.), Central and South America (Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia, etc.), and Africa (Kenya, Tanzania). Their Central Fraternity is in Brussels, Belgium. As of 2008, there were seventy-one members worldwide. On the night of 29 to 30 July 2002, Yves Lescanne, Little Brother of the Gospel, was killed in

Maroua Maroua (Fula: Marwa 𞤥𞤢𞤪𞤱𞤢) is the capital of the Far North Region of Cameroon, stretching along the banks of the Ferngo and Kaliao Rivers, in the foothills of the Mandara Mountains. The city had 301,371 inhabitants at the 2005 C ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. French, brother Yves Lescanne was born March 20, 1940, in

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,62 ...

. He took care of the abandoned children in Maroua through a small organization: "la belle étoile".

Notable members

* Carlo Carretto, author and activist * Philippe Stevens,

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of Maroua-Mokolo (

) from 1994 to 2014

References

External links

Official website (in French)
{{RC-society-stub Christian organizations established in 1956

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

Catholic religious institutes established in the 20th century