About Us

In 1837, Fr. Basil Anthony Moreau founded the Congregation of Holy Cross in a little town near Le Mans, France. During the French Revolution, the social systems of France had been decimated, and millions were left without adequate health care, education, or access to the sacraments. Fr. Moreau had a charism for preaching and had formed a group of auxiliary priests to educate and serve the local communities. After he inherited a group of lay brothers from Fr. Jacques Dujarié, he banded the groups together to form the Congrégation de Sainte-Croix. The community was named after Sainte-Croix, the small French town in which it was founded. He consecrated the community as a whole to Our Lady of Sorrows, with the priests devoted especially to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the brothers to Saint Joseph. While Moreau’s vision for the Congregation originally included a group of sisters, as well, they were established as a separate community during the process of Vatican approval.

The Congregation of Holy Cross began to teach, preach, and serve around the nation and quickly expanded to other areas of the globe. Moreau’s unfailing faith in Divine Providence, devotion to the Holy Family, and deep love of the Eucharist guided him through the community’s uncertain early years, allowing it to thrive in the face of continuing opposition. Faithful to Moreau’s original vision, the Congregation of Holy Cross continues to operate under the model of the Holy Family to this day. We are a family serving families, and we try to treat all those we serve as our own family. Following the pattern begun in the little town of Sainte-Croix, we also attune ourselves to the particular needs of each place in which we find ourselves.

In 1820, Rev. Jacques Dujarié (1767-1838) began assembling a group of young men to instruct the youth in the countryside of Northwestern France. At the time, French society, including the Church, was still wrestling with the upheaval caused by the French Revolution (1789-1799). During the Revolution, Church property had been seized, priests had been arrested and executed, and religious communities had been expelled. The departure of many religious also meant the closure of many schools. As a result, almost a whole generation in France had grown up with little to no formal education in general, let alone in matters of faith. Fr. Dujarié, who had been ordained in secret during the Revolution, provided the young men with rudimentary training and then sent them out to rural parishes to teach. These young men became the Brothers of St. Joseph.

As he grew in age and his health declined, Fr. Dujarié turned over the leadership of the brothers on August 31, 1835, to a young and energetic priest named Basile Moreau. By this time, Blessed Basile Moreau (1799-1873), who had been ordained in 1821, had already organized a group of Auxiliary Priests from among his brother priests in the Diocese of Le Mans. These Auxiliary Priests were to assist the diocese by preaching parish missions and by instructing the youth, particularly in preparatory seminaries and colleges.

For the sake of their common mission as educators in the faith, Moreau joined the Brothers of St. Joseph and Auxiliary Priests on March 1, 1837, in the Fundamental Act of Union. The newly established Association of Holy Cross took its name from the Sainte-Croix neighborhood in Le Mans in which it was formed. Moreau’s vision for Holy Cross was not complete until 1841 when he founded a group of sisters to work with the brothers and the priests. Moreau envisioned the sisters, brothers, and priests of Holy Cross compromising one holy family in imitation of the Holy Family. Although ordained a diocesan priest, Moreau wanted Holy Cross to be a religious community, conformed to Jesus Christ and bounded to one another by the religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The first brothers professed their religious vows in 1836. Moreau himself, along with four other priests, made his religious profession on August 15, 1840. The first sisters professed vows four years later in 1844.