The religious congregation that came to be known as Holy Cross began in France when Basile Moreau joined the Brothers of St. Joseph to a small band of priests he had gathered to work in the diocese of Le Mans, France. The early Brothers of Holy Cross were an energetic group, dedicated to teaching in small parish schools. Eventually Moreau sent them to missions in Algeria and Indiana where they thrived, often under harsh pioneer conditions. Based on their letters, Klawitter has reconstructed the lives of eleven of these courageous men whose apostolic work brought hope to children on three continents. Often neglected by historians, these early religious deserve attention: they are the foundation of what has become a strong force in educational institutions around the world, in North and South America, Asia, and Africa.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY San Francisco Chronicle • The Plain Dealer The inspiring true story of a group of young men whose lives were changed by a visionary mentor On April 4, 1968, the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., shocked the nation. Later that month, the Reverend John Brooks, a professor of theology at the College of the Holy Cross who shared Dr. King’s dream of an integrated society, drove up and down the East Coast searching for African American high school students to recruit to the school, young men he felt had the potential to succeed if given an opportunity. Among the twenty students he had a hand in recruiting that year were Clarence Thomas, the future Supreme Court justice; Edward P. Jones, who would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for literature; and Theodore Wells, who would become one of the nation’s most successful defense attorneys. Many of the others went on to become stars in their fields as well. In Fraternity, Diane Brady follows five of the men through their college years. Not only did the future president of Holy Cross convince the young men to attend the school, he also obtained full scholarships to support them, and then mentored, defended, coached, and befriended them through an often challenging four years of college, pushing them to reach for goals that would sustain them as adults. Would these young men have become the leaders they are today without Father Brooks’s involvement? Fraternity is a triumphant testament to the power of education and mentorship, and a compelling argument for the difference one person can make in the lives of others.

Opened only nine years after the Catholic academy in Boston was destroyed by nativists, the College of the Holy Cross was a pet project of Boston's second bishop, Benedict Fenwick--a Jesuit college in the midst of Yankee New England. At first an isolated, exclusively Catholic operation offering a seven-year humanities program, the College failed to obtain a charter by the Massachusetts General Court until 1865. After 1900, Holy Cross became a four-year college in the American pattern and advanced to its present level by integrating important principles of Jesuit liberal arts education with the academic traditions of the strongest educational region in the nation. Utilizing the universal Jesuit Plan of Studies, the college's leaders at first stressed connections with other Jesuit institutions in a program that emphasized classical languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and natural sciences. About 1900, a second era began when the curriculum was altered to bring Holy Cross into conformity with the modern educational pattern: college offerings were amplified and the prep school was dropped. During the 1960s, a third era opened. It was characterized by coeducation, a more open curriculum, growing involvement of non-Jesuit faculty and administrators, the transition to a board of lay trustees, and rising academic standards as Holy Cross took its place as the foremost Jesuit school among four-year liberal arts colleges. Thy Honored Name highlights the confluence of two strong educational traditions--Puritan and Jesuit--and the growing appreciation of their compatibility. It is also an account of efforts to promote academic excellence without losing an authentically Jesuit identity in a region where many formerly religious schools have become secular. The book will hold interest for persons who study educational and religious history, for individuals interested in the development of New England and Worcester, and for friends of Holy Cross. Anthony J. Kuzniewski, S.J., is professor of history and rector of the Jesuit Community at the College of the Holy Cross. "Anthony Kuzniewski, SJ, professor of history in the College of Holy Cross, can tell a good story. Others have written histories of Holy Cross, but none has matched his literary skill and historical acumen. This is genuine history, not a celebratory essay. The author's thoroughness and attention to detail persuade one that no relevant document illuminating the college's history has been overlooked. . . . It is a handsome, almost flawless volume, that scholars and others interested in American higher education are sure to welcome."--Catholic Historical Review "Kuzniewski has ultimately crafted an ample, widely encompassing institutional biography that is balanced, fair and interesting. An in so doing, he reminds us that an academic institution can achieve excellence and relevance even as it remains proud of its antique beginnings."--Connection

The Brothers of St. Joseph in 2020 are celebrating the 200th anniversary of their founding. They grew out of a religious revival following the French Revolution, but their noteworthy contributions to religious schools in northwest France have been overlooked, and their leaders have gone unheralded. Brother Andre Mottais was responsible for their early growth, and Brother Vincent Pieau made a name for the Brothers in their American foundations, chiefly at Notre Dame. Overshadowed by the Holy Cross priests who joined ranks with the Brothers in 1837, the Brothers of St. Joseph nevertheless must be remembered as significant to the Roman Catholic Church in post-revolutionary France.

This definitive introduction to the life and vision of Blessed Basil Moreau is the first book to gather together the essential spiritual, pastoral, and educational writings of the nineteenth-century French priest who founded the Congregation of Holy Cross, which is the religious order that founded the University of Notre Dame in 1842. Basil Moreau: Essential Writings is an anthology of all the important published and previously unpublished writings of Basil Moreau, who was beatified in 2007 by the Catholic Church. This anthology provides generous selections from Moreau’s sermons, pastoral letters, educational treatises, and spiritual reflections, which reveal a figure who was no stranger to difficulty and conflict but also a man deeply committed to a hope that can only emerge from Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection.

This volume offers an account of the life and labours of Edward Sorin, founder of the University of Notre Dame. It describes how he overcame great odds to found and grow one of world's premier Catholic institutions of higher learning.

An ecumenical roster of leading specialists approach wealth and poverty through the theology, social practices, and institutions of early Christianity.