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Award of Brief.

Dr. Power died in 1816. Drs. Murray and Troy of Dublin were to become the principal Bishops in favour of the setting up of the Congregation formally. Dr. Murray wanted a congregation subject to the Holy See and governed by a Superior General and obtained, for the Brothers, a copy of the De La Salle Brief from Europe.

This was distributed to all the houses and in August 1817, a weeklong meeting was held in Mt. Sion with representatives from all communities. Meetings continued into 1818 and 1819. There was no particular head of the Brothers at this stage. Edmund was no longer superior in Mt. Sion.

A big problem was whether to have a Superior General of their own or the superintendence of the Bishops. Not all the bishops concerned wanted a Superior General. There was a campaign to discredit Edmund Rice from some members of the Church. It wasn't very nice. Suffice it to say that the Diocesan History of Waterford went through a bitter period of turmoil between 1816 and 1821. Edmund was aware of the campaign.

In 1819, he submitted a constitution. Vows were to be of Poverty, Chastity, Perseverance and the Gratuitous Instruction of Youth. (For the wrong reasons, this latter vow became a problem with the use of the word Gratuitous.)

Approval for a Brief was given on the 16th. July 1820 by Pope Pius VII. He signed it on the 5th. September 1820.

Reception of Brief and Basic Contents.

The Brief was received in January 1821, having been brought back from Rome by Fr. Peter Kenney S.J., who was an old personal and family friend to Edmund Rice. ( Fr. Kenney was the founder of Clongowes Wood College in Co. Kildare and was instrumental during his life in providing spiritual guidance and assistance in drawing up constitutions and programmes of formation for the Irish Christian Brothers, The Irish Sisters of Charity and the Loreto Order.)

This was the First Congregation of lay-religious men in Ireland. There was a question of who would support them. If it were to be the people, this would effect the clergy's financial support. Unusually, no authority of the church could question the Brief. This was written into the brief. The most objectionable clause "that the Brothers could not visit nuns" stayed in the brief, although a request was made to remove it.

There was to be a Superior General with Assistants.

Formation of Congregation.

After a meeting in Thurles in August 1821, a General Chapter was founded in January 1822 at Mt. Sion. The Brothers went on retreat for nine days prior to the Chapter. Fr. Kenney conducted the retreat.

All present pronounced their vows to the formula decreed in the Brief, Edmund adapting the religious name Ignatius, after St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus Order. Edmund was addressed as Br. Ignatius by the members of the Order, as was the custom. This title is not used in this article.

The Superior General elected, by secret ballot, was Br. Edmund Rice.

Each monastery was presided over by a superior, appointed by Br. Rice.

Edmund wanted to open pay-schools. The Brief stated that the youth were to be taught gratis. An appeal to change this in 1823 failed.

A training school was needed with a Novice Master - this was done in Mt. Sion initially. Br. Patrick Ellis was appointed first Novice Master - he spent some of his time in Clongowes learning of novitiate life. The Christian Brothers maintained close links with the Society of Jesus into the twentieth century.