He worked for everyone / But who works for him? / His body falls / In this strange battle / His actions and his name / Where does glory scatter them?
(Cecília Meireles)
When he welcomed the first Brother, Jean Jordain, in 1627, I believe St. Vincent could not have imagined the tremendous service that consecrated laymen would provide to the Congregation of the Mission. Through their simple way of living the Vincentian charism, the Brothers helped build the history of the “little company” over its first four centuries. Whereas in the distant past Brothers made up a third of the missionaries, today they number fewer than 100 and are vanishing from our midst. I believe this is due to a crisis of identity within the Brother’s vocation. Renewing this identity is the greatest challenge in the context of the Congregation’s fourth centenary.
To overcome this challenge, we must understand why Brothers exist in a clerical congregation. Without delving into historical speculation, it is important to recall that St. Vincent himself wanted the Congregation to include both priests and brothers. He entrusted the brothers of his time with every kind of service—from the simplest tasks, like cooking and cleaning, to more complex ones like accounting and secretarial work. St. Vincent had the insight to recognize each Brother’s talent and to create spaces where it could be developed and used in mission.
Over the centuries, this dynamic changed, and many Brothers saw their natural talents ignored, relegated to the backstage of the mission, often treated as second-class missionaries. That time has passed. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church and the Congregation have worked to reframe the vocation of the consecrated layman.
Today, our challenge is to revive the spirit that inspired the first Brothers: to place our best talents at the service of the mission. Every person who joins the Congregation —whether to become a priest or a Brother— brings something uniquely their own, an idiosyncrasy that led God to call them. For Brothers, both professed and aspirants, it is their responsibility to develop their talents through study and prayer and apply them in the missions entrusted to them. The Congregation must create spaces for Brothers to grow, be formed, and serve where their talents are most valuable.
In my early years in the Congregation, I met many Brothers. One of them was a teacher, theater director, sacristan, and gardener. He was always simple in manner and capable of extraordinary things without seeking attention. He could direct a play rehearsal with his hands still dirty from gardening. He inspired people without saying much and was always ready to serve, no matter what. That deeply impressed me. I couldn’t imagine a priest—usually busy with sacraments—being involved in such a wide range of tasks. I learned a lot from that Brother’s simplicity. He showed me that you don’t have to be all or nothing, but you can do everything the mission allows and requires.
To be a Brother in the Congregation means to open oneself to the diversity of demands that service to the poor entails. It means putting your best gifts at the service of God and the poor. As Fr. Tomaz Mavric recently wrote in a letter, the Congregation breathes with two lungs—priests and brothers—and if one becomes weak or dies, the other will not survive for long. We must promote the vocation of the Brother so that the Vincentian mission can breathe fully.
