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Community Health and Wellness

Principles of primary health care

6E

Jill Clendon & Ailsa Munns

2
Table of Contents

Cover image

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

About the Authors

Acknowledgements

Reviewers

Section 1 Principles of primary health care

3
Introduction

Introduction to the section

Chapter 1 Fundamentals of creating and maintaining a healthy

community

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

References

Chapter 2 Healthy policies for healthy communities

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

References

Chapter 3 Communities of place

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

References

4
Section 2 Primary health care in practice

Introduction

Introduction to the section

Chapter 4 Primary health care in practice

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

References

Chapter 5 Assessing the community

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

References

Chapter 6 Planning for intervention

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

5
 References

Section 3 Health and wellness throughout the

lifespan

Introduction

Introduction to the section

Chapter 7 The early years

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

References

Chapter 8 Transitions to adulthood and beyond

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

References

6
Section 4 Evidence to support primary health
care

Introduction

Introduction to the section

Chapter 9 Inclusive communities

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

References

Chapter 10 Inclusive research

Introduction

Conclusion

Reflective Questions: How would I use this knowledge in practice?

References

Appendix A The McMurray Community Assessment Framework

Appendix B Calgary Family Assessment Model

7
Appendix C HEEADSSS Assessment Tool for use with Adolescents

The Tool

References

Index

8
Copyright

Elsevier Australia. ACN 001 002 357

(a division of Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd)
Tower 1, 475 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW 2067

This edition © 2019 Elsevier Australia.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Details on how to seek permission, further information about the
Publisher's permissions policies and our arrangements with
organisations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the
Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website:
www.elsevier.com/permissions.

This book and the individual contributions contained in it are

protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be
noted herein).

ISBN: 978-0-7295-4274-6

Notice
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own
experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information,

9
methods, compounds or experiments described herein. Because of
rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent
verifi cation of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. To the
fullest extent of the law, no responsibility is assumed by Elsevier,
authors, editors or contributors for any injury and/or damage to
persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or
otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products,
instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Content Strategist: Natalie Hunt

Content Development Specialist: Liz Coady
Senior Project Manager: Karthikeyan Murthy
Edited by Jo Crichton
Proofread by Melissa Faulkner
Design by Natalie Bowra
Index by Innodata Indexing
Typeset by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited
Printed in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd

10
Dedication

This book is dedicated to all community health

practitioners; for the visionary contribution they make to the
health and wellbeing of people, families and communities.

Jill Clendon, Ailsa Munns

September 2018

11
Foreword
This text is based on the foundational principles of primary health
care, which guide the reader to consider the health of individuals and
populations in their personal, family and community environments.
Health professionals engaging with communities use these
principles as a basis for implementing a range of strategies to assist
people in their journey towards better health. The primary health
care mindset recognises that health is socially determined, and the
book unpacks the social and structural elements that sometimes
enable and at other times compromise health. For the learner, this
edition of the text has been streamlined on the premise that evidence
for practice is increasingly accessible on the internet and through
other electronic means of sharing information. The text therefore
provides not only a guided tour through the most important
elements of health care knowledge for practice, but also inspires the
reader's appetite for further learning by signposting other sources of
knowledge. Together this information can be used to tailor practice
strategies to individual ages and stages in the context of community
resources and needs. A strength of the text lies in the practice
applications of knowledge through case studies, while drawing
attention to the fundamental points contained in each chapter, and
encouraging the reader to reflect on situations, needs, goals and
strategies.
Our trans-Tasman societies are multilayered and the authors
outline a broad range of caring approaches that can be adapted for
different populations and social geographies. Community health and
wellness depends on comprehensive assessment, and this is
addressed extensively as the first step in any of these approaches.

12
Moving forward from a base of assessment data relies on
understanding features of the health care system as well as
government policies, which are constantly changing. These features
and policies are presented as a point of departure for planning
inclusive, equitable, adequate, culturally appropriate and accessible
pathways to health, despite occasional roadblocks. By situating this
information in the context of different types of communities and
different locations for care, the authors have attempted to instil a
sense that health goals can be achieved, and that by working in
partnership with nurses and other health professionals, people can
be empowered to change unhealthful lifestyles. Another notable
feature of the text is its focus on evidence-based practice, including
evaluation of current practice. The authors underline the need for all
of us to help generate new evidence to fill the gaps in our knowledge.
Researching communities is unique; it relies on deep understanding
of the dynamics of a community and the cultural conventions that
determine how its citizens interact with health care. This is captured
in the text to whet the reader's appetite for what should be a lifelong
journey in the evolution of knowledge for practice. I am pleased to
recommend this edition of Community Health and Wellness to you
with best wishes for your learning enjoyment and scholarly
fulfilment.
Emeritus Professor Anne McMurray AM

13
Preface
This book is intended to guide the way nurses and other health
practitioners work with people as they seek to maintain health and
wellbeing in the context of living their normal lives, connected to
their families, communities and social worlds. Life is lived in a wide
range of communities, some defined by socio-cultural factors such as
ethnicity or Indigenous status, some defined by geography of ‘place’,
others by affiliation or interest, and some by relational networks
such as social media. Because most people live within multiple
communities it is important to understand how their lives are
affected by the combination of circumstances that promote or
compromise their health and wellbeing. Knowing a person's age,
stage, family and cultural affiliations, employment, education, health
history, and recreational and health preferences has an enormous
effect on the way we, as health practitioners, interact with them.
Likewise, our guidance and support are heavily influenced by the
environments of their lives: the physical, social and virtual
environments that contribute to the multilayered aspects of people's
lives. Knowing how, why and where people live, work, play, worship,
shop, study, socialise and seek health care, and understanding their
needs in these different contexts, underpins our ability to develop
strong partnerships with people and communities to work together
as full participants, in vibrant, equitable circumstances to achieve
and enable community health and wellness.
This edition of the text represents contemporary thinking in
community health and wellness from local, trans-Tasman and global
communities. We have condensed much of the book from previous
editions to reflect the growing accessibility of information online.
Access to up-to-date information is available today at the push of a

14
button, so we have therefore focused on the fundamental principles
of primary health care that underpin community health and
wellness. Using these principles as a foundation, the reader can then
use the internet to investigate other, specific areas of interest while
maintaining a core understanding of what comprises community
health and wellness. We have signposted many areas where readers
may want to explore further and we encourage you to also access the
supplementary material available online.
Primary health care continues to be an integral approach to
promoting health and wellness throughout the world and we apply
the principles of primary health care to our practice in this part of the
world. These principles are outlined in Chapter 1 and elaborated on
throughout the text. A primary health care approach revolves around
considering the social determinants of health (SDH) as we work in
partnership with individuals, families and communities. The text
examines the interrelatedness of the SDH throughout the various
chapters, to examine where such things as biological factors,
employment, education, family issues and other social factors that
influence health and the way we approach our role in health
promotion and illness prevention. As partners our role is to act as
enablers and facilitators of community health, encouraging
community participation in all aspects of community life. Another
foundational element that guides our consideration of community
health is the notion that health is a socio-ecological construct. As social
creatures, we are all influenced by others and by our environments,
sometimes with significant health outcomes. The relationship
between health and place is therefore crucial to the opportunities
people have to create and maintain health. Interactions between
people and their environments are also reciprocal; that is, when
people interact with their environments, the environments
themselves are energised, revitalised and often changed. Analysing
these relationships is therefore integral to the process of assessing
community strengths and needs as a basis for health promotion
planning. The first two sections of the text focus on the principles
and practice of primary health care. A new element of this edition is a

15
section on project planning, equipping the practitioner with the skills
to plan projects in and with communities to achieve wellness.
Our knowledge base for helping communities become and stay
healthy is based on understanding the structural and social
determinants of health that operate in both global and local contexts.
We also know that what occurs in early life can set the stage for
whether or not a person will become a healthy adult and experience
good health during the pathways to ageing. Along a person's life
pathway, it is helpful to know the points of critical development and
age-appropriate interventions, particularly in light of
intergenerational influences on health and wellbeing. We outline
some of these influences and risks in Section 3 of the book, which
addresses healthy families, healthy children, adolescents, adults and
older people. We provide a set of goals in each chapter for achieving
health and wellbeing.
Maintaining an attitude of inclusiveness is the main focus of Section
4. Within the chapters of this section, we suggest approaches that
promote cultural safety and inclusiveness in working with
Indigenous people and those disadvantaged or discriminated
against. To enable capacity development within communities, we
need to use knowledge wisely, which means that we need evidence
and innovation for all of our activities. Clearly, our professional
expertise rests on becoming research literate and developing
leadership skills for both personal and community capacities to
reach towards greater levels of health, vibrancy and sustainability for
the future.
As you read through the chapters you will encounter the Mason
family in Australia and the Smiths in New Zealand. Their home lives
revolve around their respective communities and the everydayness of
busy families. Throughout the chapters you will see how each family
deals with their lifestyle challenges and opportunities as they
experience child care, adult health issues, and some of the
characteristics of their communities that could potentially
compromise their health and wellbeing. We hope you enjoy working
with them and develop a deeper sense of their family and community

16
development, and how nurses can help enable health and wellness.
Throughout the text, we have included boxes that will encourage
you to stop and think on the content (key points and points to
ponder) and direct you to find further information (‘where to find
out more on…’). We have also included group exercises and
questions that can be used in practice or tutorial groups to help add
depth to your conversations on how to improve community health
and wellness.

17
About the Authors
Jill Clendon is a registered nurse and member of the College of
Nurses, Aotearoa. She is currently Acting Chief Nursing Officer at
the Ministry of Health in New Zealand. Jill is also an Adjunct
Professor in the Graduate School of Nursing and Midwifery at
Victoria University, Wellington. Jill spent the 18 years previous to her
current position in nursing policy, research, and child and family
health. Jill's research has examined issues with contemporary
nursing workforces, the efficacy of community-based nurse-led
clinics, and nursing history. Jill has taught at both undergraduate and
postgraduate levels with a specific interest in primary health and the
contemporary context of community-based well child care in New
Zealand. Jill's qualifications include a PhD in Nursing and a Masters
of Philosophy in Nursing from Massey University, and a Bachelor of
Arts in Political Studies from Auckland University. She also holds a
Diploma in Career Guidance and Certificate of Adult Teaching from
the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. She has held a
range of community positions including Chairperson of Victory
Community Health in Nelson, and as a member of the Nelson Bays
Primary Health Care Nurse Advisory Group. Jill has a clinical
background in public health nursing and paediatrics.
Ailsa Munns is a registered nurse, registered midwife, and child
and adolescent health nurse. Ailsa has practised in a range of
hospital and community health settings in metropolitan, rural and
remote health settings in Western Australia. She is currently working
at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine at Curtin
University in Western Australia as a Lecturer, Course Coordinator of
the Postgraduate Child and Adolescent Health Nursing Programs

18
and Coordinator of the Community Mothers Program (Western
Australia). Ailsa has a range of research interests including
exploration of current practice for child health nurses, Aboriginal
community-based antenatal care, peer-led home visiting support for
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal families, community nurse-led grief
and loss strategies in primary school aged students and prevention
of childhood iron deficiency anaemia in rural and remote Aboriginal
communities. Her academic qualifications include a PhD in Nursing
from Curtin University, Master of Nursing from Edith Cowan
University and Bachelor of Applied Science (Nursing) from Curtin
University.

19
Acknowledgements
We offer our appreciation to colleagues, students and friends who
supported and encouraged us in the writing of this book; sharing
their stimulating ideas, stories and photos have made community
health come alive in the hearts and minds of readers. We are grateful
to our reviewers who helped strengthen the book, and the team at
Elsevier who provided invaluable assistance in producing this work.
Bringing a trans-Tasman perspective to the book has been both
challenging and rewarding, showing how community health practice
underpins health and wellbeing across international communities.
Being able to bounce ideas off one another and melding together the
various perspectives we bring has been both inspirational and
enjoyable. We hope that communities on both sides of the Tasman
will benefit from the insights that have come from working together.
We would also like to thank and acknowledge our families for their
support and patience.

20
Reviewers
Sandra Bayliss RN, BN, MN, Programme Leader and Lecturer,
Nurse Education Team, Faculty of Health and Sciences, Universal
College of Learning, Palmerston North Campus, New Zealand

Leah East RN, BN(Hons), PhD, GradCertAP, Associate Professor

in Nursing (Primary Health Care), School of Health, University of
New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia

Steve Goldsmith MPET, RN, BN, BN(Psychiatric), Registered

Nurse and Educator, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Science
Youth & Community Studies, Holmesglen Institute, Vic, Australia

Anne McMurray BA (Psych), MEd, RN, PhD, AM,

FACN, Emeritus Professor of Nursing, Griffith University,
Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Health Economics, Menzies
Health Institute, QLD, Australia

Patricia (Trish) Thomson RN, MEd(merit), CTLT, Senior Nurse

Lecturer, Te Hoe Ora, Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied
Health, Ara Institute of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

21
SECT ION 1
Principles of primary health care
OUT LINE

Introduction
Chapter 1 Fundamentals of creating and maintaining a healthy
community
Chapter 2 Healthy policies for healthy communities
Chapter 3 Communities of place

22
Introduction

CHAPTER 1 Fundamentals of creating and

maintaining a healthy community
CHAPTER 2 Healthy policies for healthy
communities
CHAPTER 3 Communities of place

23
Introduction to the section
The three chapters that introduce this text provide a foundation to
help frame what we understand about communities in contemporary
society, and how community health and wellness is achieved and
maintained. Chapter 1 defines ‘community’ and the principles and
foundations for creating and maintaining community health. The
overall goal for those working with communities is to nurture health
within a primary health care philosophy; that is, providing care for
the community and its people in a way that is socially just. This
overarching goal is guided by an understanding of the social
determinants of health (SDH). The SDH outlined in Chapter 1
explain that health is a product of social and environmental factors,
which underlines the importance of place in health.
Chapter 2 provides an overview of the health systems in Australia
and New Zealand, providing the context within which primary health
care is provided. The chapter also discusses the way policy is formed
and how nurses and other health practitioners can be involved in
developing policy to achieve healthy communities. Our discussion
culminates in a list of characteristics of an ideal health system, so
that we can all strive beyond today, to create a better policy
environment, more responsive systems and healthier communities
for tomorrow.
In Chapter 3 we address communities of place, beginning with the
global community and examining features of urban and rural
communities in Australia and New Zealand. The chapter then
examines relational communities of people bound together virtually
through electronic and social media, and communities of affiliation,
which create a bond based on occupation, religious or cultural
characteristics. At the end of each chapter, we revisit the Smith and
Mason families, demonstrating how many of the concepts we have
learned are played out in the realities of their lives.

24
25
C H AP T E R 1

26
Fundamentals of creating and
maintaining a healthy community

27
Introduction
For most people, ‘community’ is a friendly term, conjuring up a sense
of place, a sense of belonging. Healthy communities are where
people are empowered to come together to improve their
communities for individuals, families and the whole community
(Health and Human Services 2017). This is essentially an ecological
relationship. Ecology embodies the idea that everything is connected
to everything else. Health is both a social and ecological
phenomenon, in that it is created and maintained in the context of
community life. Although as individuals we can experience relative
states of health or ill health because of our biological make-up, these
are manifest within the supporting or challenging social ecology of a
community. Health is therefore dynamic, changing as a function of
the myriad interactions between biology and our genetic
predispositions, and the psychological, social, cultural, spiritual,
physical and political environments that surround us. We explore the
socio-ecological model of health in relation to models of care further
in Chapter 6.
As health practitioners, our role in working with communities is
quite different from that of working within a health care institution.
Whereas institutional care is focused on an episode of illness, the
community role ranges from preventing illness to protecting people
from harm or worsening health once they have experienced illness, to
recovery and rehabilitation. To undertake this type of role requires
extensive knowledge of people in the many contexts of their lives.
Community practice also revolves around caring for the community
itself. It is multilayered in that it can include protecting communities
from harm or stagnation, helping its citizens to enhance their
existing capacity for future development by fostering health literacy
(that is, knowledge that contributes to health and wellbeing), and
working in partnership with them to become empowered to make
decisions that will maintain the community's viability and capability
to cope with any future challenges.

28
 We start this chapter by defining ‘community’ and the principles
and foundations for creating and maintaining health. We explore a
range of definitions and differing interpretations of health, wellness,
community, the social model of health, public health and the social
determinants of health (SDH), and introduce readers to the
fundamental principles underpinning primary health care.

Objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

1 explain health, wellness and community health in socio-

ecological terms
2 identify the SDH and discuss how they impact on individuals,
families and communities
3 define the principles of primary health care and explain how
they guide community health practice
4 explain the concept of health literacy and how it enhances
health capacity for individuals, families and communities
5 describe the differences between health education and health
promotion and the significance of each in community health
practice.

The Ecological Multilayered Perspective of

Community Health
What is health?
The concept of health can be varied and difficult to define. The World
Health Organization (WHO) definition of health encompasses a
holistic approach where health is not seen as one half of a dichotomy
of health and illness, but ‘a state of complete physical, mental and
social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’
(WHO 1974:1). In subsequent years, recognising increasing rates and
lifelong impacts of chronic disease, Huber et al. (2011) highlighted

29
health as being the capacity of people to adapt and self-manage
within social, physical and emotional environments.
Health itself is multifaceted. Each of us brings a number of factors
influencing our health which are unique to us alone, including:

▪ a personal history
▪ our biology as it has been established by
heredity and moulded by early environments
▪ previous events that have affected our health,
including past illnesses or injuries
▪ our nutritional status as it is currently, and its
adequacy in pregnancy and early infancy
▪ stressors; both good and bad events in our
lives that may have caused us to respond in
various ways.
Biological factors provide the foundation for an individual to
develop into a healthy person, but these are shaped by the
environments or conditions of their lives. Becoming and staying
healthy depends on our ability to reduce the environmental risks to
health, with 23% of global deaths and 26% of deaths among children
under five being influenced by modifiable environmental factors
(Prüss-Ustün et al. 2016). Biological factors provide the foundation
for an individual to develop as a relatively healthy person, which is
an adaptive process. Personal development and wellbeing occurs
when an individual is positively engaged with their physical, social,
political, economic and structural environments (Keleher &
MacDougall 2014). Reciprocal exchanges between people and their
environments, therefore, build the capacity for individual, family and
community health.
Concepts of health are not uniform with contrasting

30
understandings between groups and individuals. People's
understandings of health are influenced by a wide range of
experiences, social norms and contexts. As health practitioners, we
need to be aware of these different cultural interpretations and what
it means for individuals, families and communities to be ill or well
(AIHW 2017). For example, Indigenous Australian and New Zealand
people have very holistic definitions reflecting the importance of
social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing of individuals and
whole communities, along with their physical environment, dignity,
self-esteem and justice (National Aboriginal Health Strategy
Working Party 1989). It is also important to recognise that these
meanings may vary between specific Indigenous environments. This
differs from the Western mainstream biomedical approach,
emphasising a community perspective.
The inclusion of cultural perspectives within health frameworks
highlights issues of health governance for the delivery of services.
Supportive government policies for resources and models of care are
essential for health service provision across a wide domain
(Boddington & Raisanen 2009), which will be explored more
extensively in the following chapter.

What do we mean by community?

The meaning of ‘community’ can be varied. It is usually explained as
being geographical or functional, where members interact and share
both a sense of identity and resources (Talbot & Verrinder 2014).
Communities can be defined by culture or issues of interest
(Hampton & Toombs 2013), accommodating a dynamic diversity of
ethnicities, strengths and needs. Of growing interest across age
groups is the emergence of virtual communities, which involve
members using a range of communication technologies to interact as
groups (Demiris 2006).
Feelings of connectedness have been positively associated with
higher levels of physical and mental health, social support and
having control over issues affecting their lives (Talbot & Verrinder
2014). A community is often seen as a context for action, particularly

31
in the areas of health and social wellbeing. These are impacted by
members' varying beliefs, traditions, feelings of collective identity
and determinants of health. There are many contextual meanings for
community, and its influence on the capacity of individuals and
families to interact meaningfully will be explored throughout this
text.

Points to Ponder
What is Community?

• A place we share with others?

• A network of like-minded people?
• A group who lives, works and plays together?
• An interdependent group of people inhabiting a common space?
• A context for action?

Wellness
Health influences the sense of wellness of individuals and
communities. Healthy people's lives are characterised by balance and
potential. A wellness perspective reduces the focus on illness
prevention alone. Wellness is individually constructed dynamic
relationships between people and their many everyday
environments, and how they can maintain purposeful connections in
the social, emotional, physical, intellectual, spiritual, occupational
and environmental dimensions of their lives (Roscoe 2009). In a
balanced state of health and wellness, there are feelings of life
purpose, optimism and cohesion (Adams et al. 2000). When these
dimensions are part of a healthy community there are opportunities
for the community as a whole to develop high levels of health or
wellness, thereby supporting individuals and families. This socio-
ecological connectivity between people and their environments
embodies community health and wellness in that people feel

32
supported and able to develop health capacity. For example, they may
feel they have lifestyle choices, and if they choose, they will be able to
exercise or relax in safe spaces. They have access to nutritious foods;
students balance study with recreation; young families immunise
their children and have time out from work to socialise. Older people
are valued for their contribution to the community and inclusive
policies promote opportunities for all citizens to participate fully in
the community and lead a high-quality, happy life.

Key Point
Health and wellness are ecological.
Biological factors provide the foundation for an individual to
develop into a healthy person, but these are shaped by the
environments or conditions of their lives.

The Social Determinants of Health (SDH)

From birth, individuals are programmed through experiences to
develop certain biologically preset behaviours at critical and sensitive
developmental periods. This is called ‘biological embedding’, and it
is influenced by how people interact with the genetic, social and
economic contexts of their lives. Early life adversity within these
environments increases the risk for a range of physical and
psychosocial health problems later in life (Ehrlich et al. 2016).
Overlapping family, cultural, community and political characteristics
and aspects of the wider society can be termed SDH, creating
opportunities or threats to lifelong health and wellness, and
associated areas such as learning, behaviour and resilience
(Hertzman 2012).
A World Health Organization report (Wilkinson & Marmot 2003)
identified ten SDH which impact on people's ability to adopt healthy
lifestyles.

33
 1 The social gradient
2 Stress
3 Early life
4 Social exclusion
5 Work
6 Unemployment
7 Social support
8 Addiction
9 Food
10 Transport

Source: Reprinted from Wilkinson, R., Marmot, M. (Eds.), 2003.

Social determinants of health: The solid facts, 2nd edition. Geneva,
Switzerland, World Health Organization.
Fig. 1.1 demonstrates the determinants.

FIGURE 1.1 The social determinants of health

The WHO (2017a) has more recently recognised the influence of

34
genetics and access to and use of health services as being further
determinants influencing health. Within the SDH are a number of
structural conditions. For example, in order to improve a
community's development, employment opportunities and
environments supporting healthy physical and psychosocial
development are needed. Food security in relation to accessible and
nutritious foods at a reasonable cost is an ongoing national and
international issue (PMSEIC 2010). People also need to have
reasonable working conditions with adequate transport and spaces
for recreation so they can achieve a work–life balance. Other
structures within the community supporting the maintenence of
health and wellbeing include hospitals, medical practitioners, nurses,
non-govenmental organisations and allied health practitioners who
are accessible where and when they are needed.
SDH strongly influence healthy child development. Parenting
support and skills, family stability and adequate physical and socio-
economic resources are integral to health and well​b eing. Interactions
between individuals, families and communities, such as having
healthy and supportive neighbourhoods, accessible services for child
health and child care are additional supports for families and
children. Employment conditions such as parental leave without loss
of promotional opportunities, flexible working hours and income
protection in the case of unemployment all support healthy growth
and development. On-site and out-of-hours child care underpin
contemporary working conditions that facilitate economic and family
security.

The social gradient

The SDH create advantages and disadvantages for individuals,
families and groups, with some members of society having reduced
chances of reaching their full health potential (Guzys & Petrie 2014).
Those who earn income at successively higher levels have better
health than those who are unemployed or have lower levels of
income. Research studies have shown there is a ‘social gradient’ in
health, whereby those employed at successively higher wealth-

35
producing levels of employment have better psychosocial health than
those on lower levels (Kendall et al. 2017). This inequity creates
disadvantage from birth for some children. A child born into a lower
socio-economic family for example, may be destined for an
impoverished life, creating intergenerational ill health. This child
lives in a situation of ‘double-jeopardy’, where interactions between
the SDH conspire against good health. Without external community
supports, the family may spiral into worsening circumstances,
affecting their child's opportunities for the future. This is the case for
many Indigenous people, whose parents have not had access to
adequate employment or community supports that would sustain
their own health, much less that of their children. They become
caught in a cycle of vulnerability where the SDH interact in a way
that creates disempowerment across generations. Political decisions
governing employment opportunities may hamper the parents'
ability to improve finances. A less than optimal physical environment
may deprive both parents and the child of a chance to access social
groups or gatherings. There may be few opportunities for education,
health care or transportation to access services. Parenting skills may
be absent for a range of reasons, including younger age, a lack of role
modelling, geographic disadvantage or illness.
Reducing the impact of inequities requires people, communities
and governments to take action on the SDH. Many of these
determinants are influenced by the social, political and economic
environments in which people live. People may have very limited
opportunities to exert control over their SDH. As such, attributing
blame or a lack of commitment to decision making in relation to
these particular situations further disadvantages people (WHO
2017a). Global, national and local policy decisions such as
employment strategies and public health priority setting affect the
ability of people and communities to influence their own health
decisions. Any marginalisation of individuals and families through
adverse SDH prevents them from fully interacting with community
assets, leading to social exclusion (WHO 2017b). Social exclusion
leaves many members of society without the support and resources

36
they need for health and wellbeing. In contrast, social inclusion
creates social capital, trust, norms of reciprocity and cohesion: the
essence of a healthy community.

Community health
SDH help determine strengths and challenges in community health.
When people are asked to define community health, their responses
usually reflect a blending of community, public health and
population health characteristics. Public health focuses on
promoting and sustaining the health of populations (Fleming &
Parker 2015), with programs involving measurement and surveillance
with development of evidence-based strategies to prevent or
overcome diseases. The field of community health concentrates on
the self-identified needs of individuals and families within
communities. Health practitioners may use aspects of public health
research and strategies in partnership with communities when
working towards the shared goal of improving health (Goodman et
al. 2014). Population health is similar to public health in that its focus
is health and disease in the community, but population health
programs tend to address disparities in health status between
different groups.

Key Points
Public health focuses on promoting and sustaining the health of
populations.
Population health aims to address disparities in health status
between different groups.

Healthy communities are the synthesis or product of individual

people interacting with their environments with their unique
understandings of what it is to be healthy, working collaboratively to
shape and develop the community in a way that will help them
achieve positive health outcomes.

37
 Our definition of community health is as follows:

Community health is characterised by the presence of strong social

capital, engaged and empowered community members, a dynamic
and healthy physical, social and spiritual environment, accessible,
affordable and equitable services and resources, and a system of
governance that is inclusive and responsive to community members
in addressing the SDH.
This and other definitions of community health embody an ideal
where all community members strive towards a common state of
health. Of course, in real life, communities and societies are neither
consistent nor stable, which reflects the variability among individuals
and the dynamic changes that occur in people's social lives. Social
conditions are particularly important to community health, because
social environments provide the context for interactions in all other
environments. Social support fostering positive connections, feelings
of trust and social inclusion enables people to feel empowered, and
have greater control over their lives and their health (Leach 2014). We
call this social inclusion. On the other hand, if their social situation is
plagued by civil strife, an oppressive political regime, crime, poverty,
unemployment, violence, discrimination, food insecurity, diseases or
a lack of access to health and social support services they may be
disempowered, leaving them less likely to become healthy or recover
from illness when it occurs. As Talbot and Verrinder (2014:58)
explain, ‘empowerment is about increasing people's power over
things influencing their lives’, and needs to occur through
community development activities. The community health
practitioner can be an advocate for community empowerment,
facilitating and encouraging transforming strategies that take into
account SDH (Fleming & Parker 2015). When people live in situations
of disadvantage or disempowerment they are unable to access the
same resources for health as those who live in more privileged
situations, and their lives and potential for the future are
compromised. This is called social exclusion. Chapter 9 explores these

38
themes in more detail.
The role of health practitioners in community health is to
recognise enabling and challenging features within a range of
cultural, economic, social, and health environments, working with
individuals, families, groups and political entities to collectively
identify issues and strategies to enhance health and wellbeing. One
of the challenges is the development of relevant, acceptable and
sustainable approaches that take into account the complexities and
impacting social determinants of communities (Goodman et al.
2014). Community health practitioners need to step outside
traditional models of practice and work within an increasingly
recognised social model of health, incorporating a primary health
care approach.

Key Points
The characteristics of an enabling community health practitioner
include:

• promoting health and providing care where people live, work

and play
• advocating for the community, its people and its physical, social
and spiritual environments
• promoting equity, access, social inclusion and adequate
resources by assessing community needs and disadvantage and
then lobbying for change where required
• encouraging empowerment and health literacy to promote
citizen participation in decisions for health and wellbeing
• generating the evidence base relative to community health
needs.

Primary Health Care

When working with communities, nurses are aware of the need to

39
address goals for social justice, along with promoting equity and
access to health resources (Hepner et al. 2014). The ‘social
determinants’ approach to health resonates with the notion of
human rights and social justice, which underpins the social model of
health (Guzys & Arnott 2014). As such, nurses have an obligation to
identify unfairness and health inequities and their predisposing
social determinants, facilitating extra resources for disadvantaged
individuals, families and communities (Guzys 2014).
Primary health care is a set of principles and an organising
framework to guide nurses and other health practitioners in
facilitating socially just, equitable conditions for good health. The
International Conference on Primary Health Care was held in Alma
Ata in 1978, where a resolution was passed calling on the
international community to protect and promote the health of all
people (WHO & UNICEF 1978). Primary health care is defined in the
1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata as:

Essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and

socially acceptable methods and technology made universally
accessible to individuals and families in the community through their
full participation and at a cost that the community and country can
afford to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of
self-reliance and self-determination. It is the first level of contact with
individuals, the family and community with the national health
systems bringing health care as close as possible to where people
live and work and constitutes the first element of a continuing care
process
Reprinted from World Health Organization (1978) Declaration of the
Alma-Ata, http://www.who.int/publications/almaata_declaration_en.pdf

Primary care is a term which is often used instead of primary

health care, however there are several differences. Primary care
typically relates to medical and allied health management of
conditions with an emphasis on the medical model of care, focusing

40
on early diagnosis, treatment and screening (Keleher & MacDougall
2011, Talbot & Verrinder 2014). General practice is often described as
primary care. However, in terms of improving overall health
outcomes, a broader primary health care approach that addresses
SDH such as housing, employment and food security is necessarily
more encompassing and more likely to address the inequities that
leave some population groups disadvantaged. Primary care, while an
important aspect of care provided within the health sector, comprises
part of a primary health care system, not the entirety of the system
(Keleher & MacDougall 2011).

Box 1.1
Practice Profile: Practice Nurse
Hi. My name is Carter and I'm a Practice Nurse.
What the role entails:
The role of a Practice Nurse involves working closely with patients to
support them with their health needs whatever these may be. A
typical day may include immunising a baby, working through a diet
plan with a person newly diagnosed with diabetes, managing an
acute asthma attack, following up on lab results or removing a set of
stitches. I work hard to improve population health, meet my
responsibilities under the Treaty of Waitangi and address inequity in
a community-based way.
How I came to be in the role:
I came to practice nursing within a year of graduating from my
education. Practice nursing is not a traditional place for male nurses
to find themselves but I wanted to work closely with people in the
community and I have an active interest in healthy living and
lifestyle. Practice nursing seemed an ideal place to be able to
support people achieve healthy lives.
What I find most interesting about the role:

41
I enjoy the ongoing interaction and relationship development with
my patients that a general practice allows. It is rewarding to help
people of all ages maintain good health and successfully manage
chronic conditions. The generalist setting and multidisciplinary
team approach helps me advocate for patients and guide them
through the system. Sometimes, it is simply the honour of listening
to people share their fears and to help them find context, meaning
and acceptance.
Advice for anyone wanting to become a Practice Nurse:
Build your skills and knowledge of working in the community by
taking relevant courses on smoking cessation, cardiovascular risk
assessment and immunisations. Consider courses on motivational
interviewing, advanced assessment and prescribing. Talk with other
Practice Nurses and spend a day working with one to see what they
do.

Where to find out more on…

The differences between primary care and primary health
care
The following online discussions are valuable in reviewing
differences in primary care and primary health care.

• http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2010/06/10/primary-care-vs-
primary-health-care-and-who-cares/
• http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2010/06/17/primary-care-vs-
primary-health-care-who-cares-part-2/

Primary Health Care Principles

The principles of primary health care guide our activities in illness
prevention, health promotion, and structural and environmental

42
modifications that support health and wellness. These are identified
as:

▪ Accessible health care

▪ Appropriate technology
▪ Health promotion
▪ Cultural sensitivity and cultural safety
▪ Intersectoral collaboration
▪ Community participation
These principles are a framework to guide us to work towards
equitable social circumstances, equal access to health care, and
community empowerment through public participation in all aspects
of life. The literature on primary health care includes cultural
inclusiveness as a common thread in each of these principles.
However, we include cultural sensitivity as a separate principle. This
acknowledges the important work on cultural safety that has been
done over the past two decades, particularly in New Zealand. Being
culturally sensitive and enabling culturally appropriate health care
that protects cultural safety is one of the most important factors in
achieving primary health care. The principles are interconnected, but
they are examined separately below to underline the importance of
each to the overall philosophy of primary health care (see Fig. 1.2).

43
 FIGURE 1.2 Primary health care principles

Accessible health care

In many countries of the world, including those considered highly
developed, there is a widening gap in access to health services
between population groups such as Indigenous and non-Indigenous
people, and those living in urban and rural or remote areas (Ware
2013). These factors cause disparity between rich and poor, which is
inequitable and socially unjust. The major objective of providing
equity of access is to eliminate disadvantage, whether it is related to
social, economic or environmental factors. Barriers to access include
areas such as unemployment, lack of education and health literacy,
age, gender, functional capacity and cultural or language difficulties.
These factors inhibit the development of capacity for individuals and
families. Barriers to community capacity include geographical
features that isolate people from services or opportunities, civil
conflict or inadequate supporting structures and services.

44
Key Points
Inequity
Unfair distribution of resources and support (e.g. lack of health
practitioners in rural areas)
Inequality
Disparity in health status or capacity (e.g. poorer health among
Indigenous people than non-Indigenous people)

As the OECD (2016) reports, evidence has shown that in any

country, the greater the income gap between rich and poor, the worse
the health status of all its citizens. This occurs unevenly, as health is
distributed differently among different groups. Analysis of
population data from OECD countries has confirmed that the health
of any society is better when wealth is more equally distributed
(Devaux 2015). Various interactions among the different influences
also produce different levels of health and illness, and there are also
variations in the way different generations respond to events in their
social world. Some inequities also affect the community itself. Global
warming, food security, disease outbreaks and the harmful effects of
globalised industrial processes hinder a community's ability to
maintain healthy environments (Spickett et al. 2008). Decisions for
community health should therefore be based on simultaneous
assessments of the impact on individuals, families and communities,
future generations and the global community. Social justice, or
equitable access for all, needs to ensure the least advantaged people
in a community receive equal opportunity, education, care and
service as those who are advantaged by virtue of both tangible
(finances) and intangible (knowledge) resources.

Appropriate technology
The failure of health care systems to address inequities in health is
due, in part, to the use of inappropriate technologies in health care.
Primary health care requires efficiency, effectiveness and

45
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 S. Teresa had great devotion to this cross, and her cross of
Caravaca fell into the possession of the Carmelites of Brussels, who
gave it to the monastery of S. Denis during the time of Mme. Louise
of France; but this precious relic has since been restored to the
convent at Brussels.
On an eminence in sight of Lectoure is one of the sanctuaries of
mysterious origin dear to popular piety, so numerous in this country.
It is Notre Dame d’Esclaux. Its modest tower looks down on a
secluded valley which delights the eye with its freshness and fertility,
its fine trees, and the sparkling streams here and there among the
verdure. Beyond are fertile heights in the direction of Nérac. The
origin of this church is somewhat obscure. Old traditions tell of oxen
kneeling in a thicket in the meadow belonging to the lord of S.
Mézard. The shepherds, attracted by the circumstance, found a
statue of Our Lady buried in the ground. There are many instances
of similar discoveries in this region. The animals that witnessed the
Nativity have always had a certain sacredness in the eyes of the
people, and they have part in many an ancient legend, like that in
which they are made to kneel at the midnight hour at Christmas.
The lord of the manor built a chapel for the wondrous image, and a
fountain soon after sprang up, which to this day is celebrated for its
miraculous virtues. The most ancient document concerning this
chapel bears the date of April 23, 1626, stating it had been
destroyed by the Huguenots during the religious wars, and owed its
restoration to the piety of the noble family who, according to
tradition, first founded it. The concourse of pilgrims has not ceased
for three centuries. Whole parishes come here in procession in
perpetual remembrance of some great benefit. The parish of Pergain
has not failed to make its annual pilgrimage for two hundred years in
fulfilment of a vow made to avert the divine wrath after a fearful
hail-storm that had ravaged its lands. Only a few of the wonders
wrought in this sanctuary have been recorded. We find a striking
one, however, in the beginning of last century. A little boy of seven
years of age, who had never walked in his life and had no use
whatever of his feet, was taken by his pious parents to Notre Dame
d’Esclaux, where Mass was said for his benefit. At the moment of the
Elevation the little cripple rose without assistance, and went up to
the railing of the chancel, and afterwards walked home to La
Romieu, a distance of about six miles. He always celebrated the
anniversary of his miraculous cure with pious gratitude, and his
descendants have continued to do the same to this day. The details
of this wonderful occurrence have been furnished by M. Lavardens,
the present head of the family, one of the most respectable in the
region.
A path leads the devout pilgrim up the sad way of the cross to the
summit of the hill, where stands a large crucifix, in which is
enshrined a relic of the true cross. We loved to see these heights
consecrated to religion with the sign of the Passion—emblem of the
triumph of moral liberty.

“O faithful Cross! O noblest tree!

In all our woods there’s none like thee.
No earthly groves, no shady bowers,
Produce such leaves, such fruit, such flowers;
Sweet are the nails, and sweet the wood,
That bear a weight so sweet and good.”

Fifteen minutes’ walk to the south of Lectoure brings you to the

Chapel of S. Geny, on the banks of the Gers. Behind it rises the
mount on whose summit this saint of the early times was wont to
pray. Here he was when thirty soldiers, sent by the Roman governor
in pursuit of him, appeared on the other side of the Gers. S. Geny
lifted up his clean hands and pure heart to heaven. The hill trembled
beneath his knees. The river rose so high that for two days the
amazed soldiers were unable to cross, and then it was to throw
themselves at the saint’s feet and acknowledge the power of the
true God. They received baptism, and were soon after martyred in a
place long known as the “Blood of the Innocents.” A new band being
sent against S. Geny, he again ascends the mount, but this time to
pray his soul may be received among those whose robes have just
been washed white in the blood of the Lamb. And while he was
praying with eyes uplifted the heavens opened, he saw the newly-
crowned martyrs, encircled with rejoicing angels, chanting: Let those
who have overcome the adversary and kept their garments undefiled
have their names written in the Lamb’s book of life! At this sight the
saint’s knees bend, his ravished soul breaks loose from its bonds and
takes flight for heaven. This was on the 3d of May. His body
remained on the top of the mount, giving out an odor of mysterious
sweetness, till the Bishop of Lectoure brought it down to the foot of
the hill, and buried it in the little church S. Geny had erected over his
mother’s tomb. Not long after two persons, overtaken by darkness,
sought refuge in this oratory, and found it filled with a great light
and embalmed with lilies and roses—beautiful emblems of the
supernatural love and purity that had distinguished the saint.
Not far from Lectoure was once another “devout chapel,” one of
the most noted in the country around—Notre Dame de Protection, in
the village of Tudet, a place of pilgrimage as far back as the XIIth
century. The Madonna has a miraculous origin, like so many others
in this “Land of Mary.” According to the old legend, it was discovered
by shepherds in a fountain at which an ox had refused to drink. The
statue was set up beside the spring, and became a special object of
devotion to the neighborhood and a source of many supernatural
favors. Vivian II., Vicomte de Lomagne, in gratitude for personal
benefits received, built a chapel for the reception of the statue in
1178, but, as it proved too small for the numerous votaries, Henry
II. of England, a few years after, erected a large church adjoining
Vivian’s chapel, with a hospice, served by monks, for the
accommodation of pilgrims. All over the neighboring hills rose little
cells inhabited by hermits drawn to this favored spot from the
remotest parts of southern France. Not only the common people, but
the nobles and renowned warriors of the Middle Ages, and even the
kings of France, came here to implore the protection of the Virgin.
Every year, at spring-time, came the inhabitants of Lectoure,
Fleurance, and all the neighboring parishes, often fourteen or fifteen
at a time, accompanied by priests in their robes and magistrates in
red official garments, chanting hymns in honor of Mary. Countless
miracles were wrought at her altar. The walls were covered with
crutches and ex votos. One of the fathers of Tudet writes thus at the
close of last century: “Here Mary may be said to manifest her power
and goodness in a special manner. How many times has she not
caused the paralytic to walk, cured the epileptic, given sight to the
blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the dumb! How often has
she not healed the sick at the very gates of death, snatched people
from destruction at the very moment of danger, and put an end to
hail-storms, tempests, and the plague!”
Nothing enrages the impious so much as the evidences of a piety
that is a constant reproach to their lives; and the Revolution of 1793
swept away, not only the ancient chapel of the Viscounts of
Lomagne, but the church of Henry II., the hospice, and the hermits’
cells, leaving only a few broken arches where now and then a
solitary pilgrim went to pray. The miraculous statue, however, was
rescued from profanation, and for a long time buried in the ground.
It is still honored in the village church of Gaudonville, but it is only a
mutilated trunk, its head and most of the limbs being gone. So many
holy recollections, however, are associated with it, that people still
gather around it to pray, especially in harvest-time, to be spared the
ravages of hail, often so destructive in this region.
Some of the old hymns in the expressive Gascon tongue, as sung
at Notre Dame de Protection, are still extant, and nothing is more
pathetic than to see a group of hard-working peasants around the
altar of the chapel of Gaudonville singing:

“Jésus, bous aouets tribaillat

Prenéts noste tribail en grat!”[100]

or:
 “Jésus! bous ets lou boun Pastou,
Bost’oilhe qu’ey lou pécadou
Gouardats-lou deu loup infernau,
Et de touto sorto de mau!”[101]

Among other prayers they chant is a rhymed litany of twenty-

seven saints of different trades, and twenty-one shepherd saints,
with an appropriate invocation to each, not exactly poetical, but,
sung by the uncultivated voices of poor laborers in that rustic chapel
in a measured mournful cadence, there is something akin to poesy—
something higher—which awakens profound and salutary thoughts.
It is in this way they invoke S. Spiridion, the reaper; S. Auber, the
laborer in the vineyard; S. Isidore, the gardener:
“Sent Isidore, qui ets estats Coum nous au tribail occupat,” etc.—
S. Isidore, who wast like us in labor occupied, etc.—a touching
appeal for sympathy to that unseen world of saints of every tribe
and tongue and degree, which excludes not the highest, and admits
the lowest.
The Church of Notre Dame de Tudet is about to be rebuilt. The
corner-stone was laid a short time since on the feast of Our Lady of
Protection, under the patronage of the pious descendants of the
ancient Viscounts of Lomagne, true to the traditions of their race.
The entire population of fourteen neighboring villages assembled to
witness the solemn ceremony and pray in a spot so venerated by
their ancestors. The mutilated statue of Gaudonville is to be
restored, and brought back in triumph to the place where it was
once so honored. Thus all through France there is a singular revival
of devotion to the venerable sanctuaries of the Middle Ages.
Everywhere they are being repaired or rebuilt—a significant fact of
good augury for the church.
TO BE CONCLUDED NEXT MONTH.
 BROTHER PHILIP.[102]
The century in which we live has distinguished itself by a terrible
propaganda of evil, error and corruption taking every variety of form
to insinuate themselves into society; yet this same century is also
marked by great and generous efforts in the cause of truth and
goodness, and in these France has proved herself true to her ancient
vocation. From a peculiar vivacity of energy (if we may be allowed
the expression) in the national character, whether for good or for
evil, the land that has produced some of the most hardened
atheists, the worst and wildest communists, and the most frivolous
votaries of pleasure, continues to produce the most numerous and
devoted missionaries, the readiest martyrs, and saints whose long
lives of hidden toil for God and his church are a noble pendant to her
martyrs’ deaths.
One of these lives of unobtrusive toil is now before us—that of
Brother Philip, who during thirty-five years was Superior-General of
the Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes, or Brothers of the Christian
Schools. Before tracing it, even in the imperfect manner which is all
for which we have space, it will be well to give a brief sketch of the
institute of which he was for so long the honored head.
Jean Baptiste de la Salle, the son of noble parents, was born at
Rheims in the year 1651. Entering Holy Orders early in life, he
greatly distinguished himself in the priesthood, not only as a scholar
and theologian, but also as an orator, so eloquent and persuasive
that he might have aspired to the highest dignities in the church had
he not chosen to limit his ambition to the lowly work of popular
education. This education was not then in existence. Not that there
was an utter absence of schools, but these were all unconnected
with each other, and were besides greatly wanting in any good and
efficient method of teaching. The Abbé de la Salle invented the
simultaneous method, namely, that which consists in giving lessons
to a whole class at a time, instead of to each child separately. The
subjects of instruction were reading, writing, French grammar,
arithmetic, and geometry, with Christian teaching as the basis and
invariable accompaniment of all the rest. He founded an association
of religious who were not to enter the priesthood, of which,
however, they were to become the most efficient allies in the
education of the young according to the mind of the church, this
intention being their distinguishing characteristic. Resolving to live in
community with them, he resigned his canonry at Rheims, and sold
his rich patrimony, distributing the money among the poor. He gave
the brethren their rule, and also the habit which they wear. Thus a
new religious family, not ecclesiastical, appeared in France, the
members of which were only to be brothers, united by the vows of
poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Abbé de la Salle also
established a school for training teachers, which was the first normal
school ever founded in France; he also originated Sunday-schools for
the young apprentices of different trades, and pensionnats, or
boarding-schools, the first of which was opened at Paris, for the Irish
youths protected by James II. of England, and fugitives like himself.
The chief house of the order was St. Yon (formerly Hauteville), an
ancient manor just outside the gates of Rouen, surrounded by an
extensive enclosure, and affording a peaceful solitude where M. de
la Salle enjoyed his few brief intervals of repose in this world. He
had been invited to settle there by Mgr. Colbert, Archbishop of
Rouen, and M. de Pontcarré, First President of the Parliament of
Normandy, and, after the death of Louis XIV., made it more and
more the centre of his work. It was at St. Yon that he resigned the
post of superior-general in 1716, and there he died on Good Friday,
the 7th of April, 1719, aged sixty-eight years. The house was soon
afterwards enlarged and a church built, to which in 1734 the
Brothers transferred the remains of their holy founder, which had
until then rested in the Church of S. Sever.
The Brothers of the Christian Schools were called the Brothers of
St. Yon, and sometimes les Frères Yontains, whence originated the
title of Frères Ignorantins, which has, however, been lived down by
the institute, the excellence of the instruction afforded by the
Christian Schools not permitting the perpetuation of the derisive
epithet.
The new order supplied a want too generally felt not to extend
itself rapidly, and at the time of the Abbé de la Salle’s death it
numbered twenty-seven houses, two-hundred and seventy-four
Brothers, and nine thousand eight hundred and eighty-five pupils. In
1724 Louis XV. granted it letters-patent expressive of his approval,
and it was in the same year that Pope Benedict XIII. accorded
canonical institution to the congregation, thus realizing the earnest
desire of the venerable founder, that his institute should be
recognized by the Sovereign Pontiff as a religious order, with a
distinctive character and special constitutions. Brother Timothy was
at that time superior-general. He governed the institute with energy
and wisdom for thirty-one years, during which time no less than
seventy additional houses of the order were established in various of
the principal towns of France, everywhere meeting with
encouragement and protection from the bishops and the Christian
nobility, so that every inauguration of a school was made an
occasion of rejoicing.
The successor of Brother Timothy was Brother Claude, who was
superior-general from 1751 to 1767, when, having attained the age
of seventy-seven, he resigned his office, continuing to live eight
years longer in the house of St. Yon, where he died. It was at this
period that the atheism of the XVIIIth century was making its worst
ravages. A band of writers, under the leadership of Voltaire, laid
siege, as it were, to Christianity, by a regular plan of attack, and,
employing as their weapons a false and superficial philosophy,
distorted history, raillery, ridicule, corruption, and lies, they conspired
against the truth, while licentiousness of mind and manners infected
society and literature alike. At the very time when the followers of
the faith were devoting themselves with renewed energy to the
instruction of the ignorant and the succor of the needy, philosophy,
so-called, by the pen of Voltaire, wrote as follows:
 “The people are only fit to be directed, not instructed; they are
not worth the trouble.”[103]
“It appears to me absolutely essential that there should be
ignorant beggars. It is the towns-people (bourgeoisie) only, not the
working-classes, who ought to be taught.”[104]
“The common people are like oxen: the goad, the yoke, and
fodder are enough for them.”[105] Thus contemptuously were the
people regarded by anti-Christian philosophy, which, while it paid
court to any form of earthly power, perpetuated, and even outdid,
the traditions of pagan antiquity in its hardness and disdain towards
the lower orders.
On the retirement of Brother Claude, Brother Florentius accepted,
in 1777, the direction of the house at Avignon, where the storm of
Revolution burst upon him. After undergoing imprisonment and
every kind of insulting and cruel treatment he died a holy death, in
1800, when order was beginning to be restored to France.
Brother Agathon, who next ruled the congregation, was a man of
high culture in special lines of study, of wise discernment regarding
the interests and requirements of the religious life, and of rare
capacity as an administrator. The circular-addresses he issued from
time to time have never lost their authority with the Brothers, and
furnish a supplement as well as a commentary to the rule of their
institute. He did much to increase the extent and efficiency of the
latter, but was interrupted in the midst of his work by the political
disturbances that were agitating his country. The decree of the 13th
of February, 1790, by which “all orders and congregations, whether
of men or women,” were suppressed, did not immediately overthrow
the institute; but, although it suffered the provisional existence of
such associations as were charged with public instruction or
attendance on the sick, the respite was to be of short duration. The
Brothers, however, notwithstanding the anxiety into which they were
thrown by the decree of the Constitutional Assembly, ventured to
hope that their society would be spared on account of its known
devotedness to the interests of the people. Brother Agathon,
moreover, was not a man who would silently submit to unjust
measures, and several petitions were addressed by him to the
Assembly, in which he fearlessly pleaded the cause of his institute,
on the ground of its acknowledged utility among the very classes
whose benefit the Assembly professed to have so greatly at heart.
The simple and conclusive reasoning of these petitions must have
gained their cause with reason and justice; but reason and justice
were alike dethroned in France. One member alone of the Assembly
did himself honor by representing the excellence of their teaching
and the reality of their patriotism, but he spoke in vain; and on the
universal refusal of the Brothers to take the oath imposed by the
civil constitution on the members of any religious society, as well as
on those of the priesthood, the houses to which they belonged were
summarily suppressed. They were abused for not sending their
pupils to attend the religious ceremonies presided over by schismatic
ministers; they were accused of storing arms in their houses to be
used against the country; they were charged with monopolizing and
concealing victuals; but after a visit of inspection at Melun the
municipal officers were compelled to bear testimony to the
disinterested probity of these pious teachers, and similar
perquisitions invariably resulted in the confusion of their
calumniators.
But the Revolution continued its course. A decree passed on the
18th of August, 1792, suppressed all “secular ecclesiastical
corporations” and lay associations, “such as that of the Christian
Schools,” it being alleged that “a state truly free ought not to suffer
the existence in its bosom of any corporation whatsoever, not even
those which, being devoted to public instruction, have deserved well
of the country.”
The Reign of Terror had begun; the dungeons were filling, and the
prison was but the threshold to the scaffold. The children of the
venerable De la Salle were not spared. Brother Solomon, secretary
to the superior-general, was martyred on the 2d of September for
refusing to take the schismatic oath. Brother Abraham was on the
very point of being guillotined when he was rescued by one of the
National Guard. The Brothers of the house in the Rue de Notre
Dame des Champs continued to keep the schools of S. Sulpice until
the massacre of the Carmelite monks. Several of the Brothers were
put to death. The courageous words of Brother Martin before the
revolutionary tribunal at Avignon have been preserved. “I am a
teacher devoted to the education of the children of the poor,” he said
to his judges; “and if your protestations of attachment to the people
are sincere; if your principles of fraternity are anything better than
mere forms of speech, my functions not only justify me, but claim
your thanks.” Language like this ensured sentence of death. Besides,
at that time they condemned; they did not judge.
After eighteen months of imprisonment Brother Agathon was
restored to liberty, and died in 1797, at Tours, leaving his institute
dispersed; but consoled by the last sacraments, which he received in
secret.
Among the scattered members of a congregation too Christian not
to be persecuted in those days we do not find one who did not
remain faithful. Many of them, in the name and dress of civilians,
continued to occupy themselves in teaching, and filled the post of
schoolmasters at Noyon, Chartres, Laon, Fontainebleau, etc. From
the municipal authorities of Laon they received a public testimonial
of esteem; and in 1797, being imprisoned on the denunciation of a
schismatic priest, the Brothers were set at liberty by a grateful and
avenging ebullition on the part of the mothers of families. Their exit
from prison was a triumph, the population crowding to meet them
and throwing flowers in their way until they reached the school-
house, in the court of which a banquet had been prepared, at which
masters and scholars found themselves happily reunited.
In spite of the decree which had smitten their institute, the
Brothers were still sought after as teachers in purely civil conditions.
Nothing had replaced the orders and establishments which had been
destroyed; no instruction was provided for the young; and as the
churches were still closed and the pulpits silent, a night of ignorance
was beginning to spread itself over the rising generation. On the
25th of August, 1792, a boy demanded of the National Assembly, for
himself and his comrades, that they should be “instructed in the
principles of equality and the rights of man, instead of being
preached to in the name of a so-called God.”
Such men as Daunou, Desmolières, and Chaptal were deploring
the state of public instruction in France, which during ten years had
been a mere mixture of absurdities and frivolities, when Portalis
dared to declare openly that “religion must be made the basis of
education.”
This was in 1802, about the time that the relations of France with
the Sovereign Pontiff were renewed by the Concordat, and the three
consuls had gone together in state to the metropolitan church of
Notre Dame. By the consular law of the 1st of May, 1802, on public
instruction, the Brothers were authorized to resume their functions.
The institute no longer possessed any houses in France, but a few
remained to it in Italy, and over these Pope Pius VI. had appointed,
as vicar-general, Brother Frumentius, director of the house of San
Salvatore at Rome.
Lyons was the first city in France where the members of the
scattered congregation began to reassemble; Paris was the next;
then St. Germain en Laye, Toulouse, Valence, Soissons, and Rheims.
The Brothers at Lyons—namely, Brother Frumentius and three
companions—received, in 1805, a memorable visit. Pope Pius VII., in
quitting France, after having crowned at Notre Dame the emperor by
whom, three years later, he himself was to be discrowned, repaired,
accompanied by three cardinals, to the Brothers of the Christian
Schools. He blessed the restored chapel and the reviving institute,
his fatherly words of encouragement being a pledge and promise of
its beneficent prosperity.
As it was of importance that the dispersed members should be
made aware of the reorganization of their society, an earnest and
affectionate circular-letter was addressed to them by Cardinal Fesch,
archbishop of Lyons, inviting them to repair to Brother Frumentius to
be employed according to the rule of their congregation, towards
which he at the same time assured them of the emperor’s good-will.
The decree for the organization of the University, issued on the
17th of March, 1808, restored to the institute a legal existence,
together with all the civil rights attached to establishments of public
utility. In these statutes it is stated that the Brothers form a society
for gratuitously affording to children a Christian education; that this
society is ruled by a superior-general, aided by a certain number of
assistants; that the superior is elected for life by the General Chapter
or by a special commission; and that the superior nominates the
directors, and also the visitors, whose duty it is to watch over the
regularity of the masters and the efficient management of the
schools.
The Brothers had a powerful friend in M. Emery, the Superior of S.
Sulpice, a man of high character and sound judgment, and who was
held in great esteem by the emperor, as well as by every one with
whom he had anything to do. Napoleon, particularly, appreciating
the excellent organization of the society, recommended “the Brothers
of De la Salle in preference to any other teachers.”
We now come to the special subject of our memoir.
Among the dispersed members of the institute who first
responded to the invitation of Cardinal Fesch were two brothers of
the name of Galet, whose memory is especially connected with
Brother Philip. On the suppression of the house at Marseilles they
sought shelter from the violence of the Revolution in the retired
hamlet of Châteaurange (Haute Loire), where they kept a school. On
receiving the cardinal’s circular the elder brother announced to the
pupils that he had been a Brother of the Christian Schools, until
compelled to return to secular life by the suppression of his institute;
but learning that this was re-established, he was about to depart at
once to Lyons, there to resume his place in it, adding that, if any of
them should desire to enter there, he would do all in his power to
obtain their admission and to help them to become accustomed to
the change of life.
 Amongst those who availed themselves of this invitation, and who,
three years later (in 1811), presented himself to be received into the
novitiate, was Mathieu Bransiet, born on the 1st of November, 1792,
at the hamlet of Gachat, in the Commune of Apinac (Loire). Pierre
Bransiet, his father, was a mason; the house in which he lived, with
a portion of land around it, which he cultivated, constituting all his
worldly possessions. Like his wife (whose maiden name was Marie-
Anne Varagnat), he was a faithful Christian, and during the
revolutionary persecution habitually afforded refuge to the
proscribed priests. It was the custom of the little family to assemble
at a very early hour of the morning in a corner of the barn, where,
on a poor table behind a wall or barricade of hay and straw, the Holy
Sacrifice was offered up, as in the past ages of paganism, and as
under Protestant rule, whether in the British Isles not so many
generations ago, or in Switzerland at the very time at which we
write; some trusty person meanwhile keeping watch without, in
readiness to give timely warning in case of need. Nor did Pierre
Bransiet confine himself to the exercise of this perilous but blessed
hospitality; many a time did he accompany the priests by night in
their visits to the sick and dying, and bearing with them the sacred
Viaticum after the hidden manner of the proscribed.
Amid scenes and impressions such as these the young Bransiet
passed his childhood, learning the mysteries of the faith from an
“abolished” catechism; kneeling before the crucifix, which was hated
and trampled under foot in those godless days; and worshipping
when those who prayed must hide themselves to pray. Thus a
deeply serious tone became, as it were, the keynote of his soul,
which harmonized with all that was earnest and austere. Even as an
old man he never spoke without deep feeling of his early years,
when he only knew religion as a poor exile and outcast on the earth.
The simple and hardy habits of his cottage-home, his own early
training in labor, self-denial, and respectful obedience, the Christian
teaching of his mother and elder sister (now a religious at Puy), all
helped to form his character and mould his future life. He was the
most diligent of the young scholars of Châteaurange, which is half a
league distant from Gachat, and made his first communion in the
church of Apinac, when the Church of France had issued from her
catacombs, and the Catholic worship was again allowed. As a child
Mathieu was remarkable for his never-failing kindness and
affectionateness towards his brothers and sisters, for the tenderness
of his conscience, and for his jealousy for the honor of God, which
would cause him to burst into tears if he saw any one do what he
knew would offend him.
Mathieu was seventeen years of age when, with the full consent of
his parents, he entered the novitiate at Lyons. He had six brothers,
one of whom followed his example, and is at the present time
worthily fulfilling the office of visitor to the Christian Schools of
Clermont-Ferrand. Boniface was the name by which the young
novice was at first called; but as this was soon afterwards
exchanged for that of Philip, we shall always so designate him.
His exemplary assiduity and piety, as well as his rare qualifications
as a teacher, quickly drew attention to him, and on account of his
skill in mathematics he was appointed professor in a school of coast
navigation at Auray in the Morbihan, where he was very successful.
While here he wrote a treatise on the subject of his instructions,
which was his first attempt in the special kind of writing in which he
afterwards so greatly excelled. M. Deshayes, the curé of Auray, and
a man of great discernment, was so much struck by his practical
wisdom and good sense that he said to the Brother director, “See if
Brother Boniface is not one day the superior of your congregation!”
It was at Auray, in 1812, that he made his first vows, and there he
remained until 1816. Of the boys who during this time were under
his care, no less than forty afterwards entered the sacerdotal or the
monastic life. From Auray he was sent to Rethel as director, and
from thence, in 1818, to fill the same office at Rheims, the nursery
of his order, and afterwards at Metz. In 1823 the superior-general,
Brother William of Jesus—who was seventy-five years old, and had
been in the congregation from the time he was fifteen—appointed
him to the responsible post of director of S. Nicolas des Champs at
Paris, as well as visitor of several other houses in the provinces and
in the capital. In 1826 he published a book entitled Practical
Geometry applied to Linear Design,[106] which is regarded by
competent judges as the best work of the kind in France. He
continued director at Paris during the eight remaining years of
Brother William’s life, which ended a little before the Revolution of
July, 1830. On the succession of Brother Anaclete as superior-
general Brother Philip was elected one of the four assistants of the
General Chapter, and thus found himself associated with the general
government of the congregation; but the higher he was raised in the
responsible offices of his order, the more apparent became his good
sense and sound understanding—qualifications of especial value
amid the troubles of that stormy time.
The opening of evening classes for working-men is due to Brother
Philip, who first commenced them in Paris, at S. Nicolas des Champs,
and at Gros Caillou, extending them, with marked encouragement
from the Minister of Public Instruction, M. Guizot, to other quarters
of the city. The law of 1833, by establishing normal schools for
primary instruction, furnished a test as well as a rivalry to the
schools of the Brothers; but the latter showed themselves equal to
the emergency, supplementing their course of instruction by
additional subjects, and taking all necessary measures for carrying
on their work in the most efficient manner.
Their novitiates were the models of the normal primary schools;
but in comparing the vast difference of expense between the one
and the other it is easy to perceive on which side self-denial and
prudent administration are to be found. A normal school like the one
at Versailles costs more than 60,000 francs, or 12,000 dollars,
yearly; and that of Paris more than 100,000 francs, or 20,000
dollars; while the Brothers, for the training of their masters, receive
nothing from the state; and these young masters, formed with the
aid of small resources, become none the less admirable teachers,
having moreover in their favor the double grace of devotedness and
a special vocation.
 Under the name of Louis Constantin, Brother Anaclete began the
publication of works of instruction which was afterwards so
efficiently continued by Brother Philip. The latter gave particular
attention to the formation of a preparatory novitiate called le petit
noviciat, which is not a novitiate, properly so called, but a
preliminary trial of vocations, similar to that of the Petit Séminaire.
Should the young members persevere, their education prepares
them for teaching; and if their vocation is found to be elsewhere,
this time of study will, all the same, be of great advantage to them,
whatever may be their future.
The little novices were particular favorites of Brother Philip, who
took delight not only in instructing them himself in both sacred and
secular knowledge, but watched over them with a sort of maternal
affection, and was often seen carrying into their cells warm socks or
any other article of apparel of which he had discovered the need.
On the death of Brother Anaclete, in 1838, Brother Philip was
unanimously elected superior by the General Chapter, on the 21st of
November. After the election the chapter, contrary to its wont,
abstained from passing any decree, “leaving to the enlightened zeal
of the much-honored superior the care of maintaining in the
Brothers the spirit of fervor.”
The Abbé de la Salle had recommended the practice of
mortification, silence, recollection, contempt for earthly things and
for the praise of man, humility, and prayer; and the venerable
founder has continued to speak in the persons of the successive
superiors of his institute. We have not space here to give quotations
from the circulars issued by Brother Philip during the thirty-five years
of his government, but they must be read before a just appreciation
can be had of all that a “Christian Brother” is required to be, and
also of the heart and mind of the writer, who never spoke of himself,
but whose daily life and example were his best eloquence. He always
presided over the annual retreats, commencing by that of the
community in Paris. One of the Brothers, in speaking of these, said:
“In listening to him I always felt that we had a saint for our father.”
 A rule had been made by the chapter of 1787 that the Brother
assistants should cause the portrait of the superior-general to be
taken with the year of his election. It was with the greatest
reluctance, and only from a spirit of obedience, as well as on
account of the insistence of the Brother assistants, that Brother
Philip suffered this rule to be observed in his case. Horace Vernet
had the highest esteem for the superior-general, and told the
Brothers who went to request him to take the portrait that he would
willingly give them the benefit of his art in return for the benefit of
their prayers. Brother Philip sat to him for an hour, and the painting
so much admired in the Exhibition of 1845 was the result. Later on
the visits of Brother Philip were a much-valued source of help and
consolation to the great painter during his last illness.
Our sketch would be incomplete were we to leave unnoticed the
daily life of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, which exhibits their
profession put into practice.
The Brothers rise at half-past four; read the Imitation until a
quarter to five, followed by prayer and meditation until Mass, at six,
after which they attend to official work until breakfast, at a quarter-
past seven; at half-past seven the rosary is said, and the classes
commence at eight; catechism at eleven, examination at half-past;
at a quarter to twelve dinner, after which is a short recreation. At
one o’clock prayers and rosary; classes recommence at half-past
one. Official work at five; at half-past five preparation of the
catechism; spiritual reading at six; at half-past six meditation; at
seven supper and recreation; at half-past eight evening prayers; at
nine the Brothers retire to bed; and at a quarter-past nine the lights
are extinguished, and there is perfect silence.
After having been for twenty-five years established in the Rue du
Faubourg St. Martin the Brothers had to make way for the building
of the Station of the Eastern Railway (Gare de l’Est), and after long
search found a suitable house in the Rue Plumet, now Rue Oudinot,
which they purchased, and of which they took possession, as the
mother-house of the institute, in the early part of 1847.
 On entering this house it is at once evident that rule and order
preside there. All the employments, even to the post of concièrge, or
door-keeper, are carried on by the Brothers, each one of whom is
engaged in his appointed duty. The first court, called the Procure,
presents a certain amount of movement and activity from its
relations with the world outside. The second court, which is the
place for recreations, and which leads into the interior, is much more
spacious and planted with trees. It was in these alleys that Brother
Philip was accustomed to walk during his few moments of repose,
conversing with one of the Brothers or readily listening to any of the
youngest little novices who might address him.
The Salle du Régime, or Chamber of Government, is a marvel in
the perfection of its arrangements. The superior-general is there at
his post, the assistants also; the place of each occupying but a small
space and on the same line. Each has his straw-seated chair, his
bureau, and papers; the chair of the superior differing in no way
from the rest. On each bureau is a small case, marked with its ticket,
indicating the countries placed under the particular direction of the
Brother assistant to whom it belongs. There are to be found all the
countries to which the schools of the institute have been extended,
from the cities of France and of Europe to the most distant regions
of the habitable globe. Little cards in little drawers represent the
immensity of the work. Everything is ruled, marked, classified, in
such a manner as to take up the smallest amount of space possible;
as if in all things these servants of God endeavored to occupy no
more room in this world than was absolutely necessary. “We have
seen,” writes M. Poujoulat, “in the Salle du Régime, the place which
had been occupied by Brother Philip; his straw-seated chair and
simple bureau, upon which stood a small image of the Blessed
Virgin, for which he had a particular affection, and one of S. Peter,
given to him at Rome. From this unpretending throne he governed
all the houses of his order in France, Belgium, Italy, Asia, and the
New World, and hither letters daily reached him from all countries.
He wrote much; and his letters had the brevity and precision of one
accustomed to command. The secretariate occupies ten Brothers,
and, notwithstanding its variety and extent, nothing is complicated
or irregular in this well-ordered administration.
“We visited, as we should visit a sanctuary, the cell of Brother
Philip, and there saw his hard bed and deal bedstead, over which
hung his crucifix.… A few small prints on the walls were the only
luxury he allowed himself.… Some class-books ranged on shelves, a
chair, a bureau, and a cupboard (the latter still containing the few
articles of apparel which he had worn), … compose the whole of the
furniture. How often the hours which he so needed (physically) to
have passed in sleep had Brother Philip spent at this desk or
kneeling before his crucifix, laying his cares and responsibilities
before God, to whom, in this same little chamber, when the long
day’s toil was ended, he offered up his soul!”
In another room, that of the venerable Brother Calixtus, may be
seen the documents relating to the beatification of the Abbé de la
Salle, bearing a seal impressed with the device of the congregation—
Signum Fidei. Besides thirty-five autograph letters of the founder
and the form of profession of the members, there are here the bulls
of approbation accorded by Pope Benedict XIII. in 1725, and the
letters-patent granted the previous year by Louis XV. In a room
called the Chamber of Relics are preserved various sacred vestments
and other objects which had belonged to the venerable De la Salle.
The chapel is at present a temporary construction.
The mother-house comprises the two novitiates and a normal
school appropriated solely to the perfecting of the younger masters.
It is from the little novices that the Brothers select the children of
the choir. To see these twenty-five or thirty little fellows on great
festivals, in alb and red cassock, swinging censers or scattering
flowers before the Blessed Sacrament, amid the rich harmonies of
the organ and the church’s sacred chant, was Brother Philip’s
especial delight; he seemed to see in them, as it were, a little
battalion of angels offering their innocent homage to the hidden
God.
 If order forms one part of the permanent spirit of the institute, so
also does the practice of poverty; but it is holy poverty, tranquil and
cheerful. Self-denial is the foundation of all that is seen there, but so
also are propriety and suitability. The life of the Brothers is austere,
but by no means gloomy; on the contrary, one of their prevailing
characteristics is a cheerful equanimity, which seems never to
forsake them. Nothing useless is permitted in any of the houses.
“We must not,” wrote Brother Agathon in 1787, “allow anything
which may habitually or without good reason turn aside the Brothers
from the exercises of the community or trouble their tranquillity;
such things, for instance, as fancy dogs, birds, the culture of flowers,
shrubs, or curious plants.” And these regulations have been faithfully
observed.
This the mother-house, in the Rue Oudinot, is the centre of
government to the numerous establishments of the institute spread
over the earth; it is, in fact, their little capital, from whence the
superior-general and his assistants, like the monarch and parliament
of a constitutional kingdom, exercise a wise and beneficent
dominion.
The Revolution of February, 1848, notwithstanding the general
disorganization of which it was the cause, did not prejudicially affect
the work of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The moderate
spirit of a large majority of the constituency was in their favor, and
the triumph of what was styled the “right of association” was of
benefit to the religious orders. And, besides this, men high in office
acknowledged the small consideration given to the religious element
in the primary instruction organized by the law to have occasioned
the moral devastation of which they had been the sorrowful
witnesses.
This state of opinion, by producing an increased respect for the
Brothers and appreciation of their work, was very favorable to the
institute of De la Salle. In 1849 the superior-general was requested
to take part in an extra-parliamentary commission on the subject of
public instruction and liberty of teaching. His extensive and practical
knowledge made a great impression on his fellow-commissioners.
Naturally modest and retiring, he was never one of the most forward
to speak, but the most listened to of any; his observations being so
conclusive and to the point as invariably to decide the ultimate
resolution of a question; and answers which others were painfully
seeking he found at once in the store-house of his long experience.
That portion of the law of March 15, 1850, relating to primary
instruction, bears the impress of these discussions.
The epoch of the Second Empire was a time of difficulty for the
Brothers. The new government, which had begun by wishing to
decorate Brother Philip—who was always rebellious against
seductions of this nature—raised against his institute the question of
scholar remuneration, alleging that it owed its success merely to its
rule of teaching gratuitously, to the prejudice of the schools of the
state, and requiring the municipality of every place where the
Brothers were established to insist on their adoption of the
remunerative system. These difficulties, which had begun under the
ministry of M. Fortoul, became more serious under that of M.
Rouland.
Now, it was one of the fundamental rules of the institute that the
Brothers should receive no remuneration whatever in return for their
instructions. Brother Philip, therefore, in the name of the statutes of
his order, resolutely resisted their infringement. To punish him for so
doing the annual sum of eight thousand four hundred francs, which
had been granted to the institute under the ministry of M. Guizot for
the general expenses of administration, was suppressed, many of
the houses were closed, and forty more threatened with the same
fate.
At last, after an anxious struggle of seven years’ duration, it was
decided by the General Chapter, assembled in 1861, that, to avoid
worse evils and save the institute from destruction, a partial
concession should be made. Payments were allowed where the
government insisted, but it was expressly stipulated that these
payments would be the property of the municipal council, the
Brothers themselves having nothing whatever to do with them.
This concession, which had only been forced from him by a hard
necessity, was a great vexation to Brother Philip, who, however,
consoled himself with the thought that this moral oppression would
only be of temporary duration. Nor was he mistaken. For twenty
years past not only has the gratuitous system not been attacked, but
the very men who opposed it in the case of the Brothers have
themselves insisted on its general adoption, in their endeavors to
force upon the whole of France a primary instruction without
religion.
The ministry of M. Rouland, being particularly jealous of Brother
Philip as head of a religious congregation, had other trials in store
for him, taking out of his hands the right of appointing masters, in
order that it might, through the prefects, place lay teachers of its
own selection in places where the people themselves had requested
that their children should be taught by the Brothers of the Christian
Schools. The measures taken to attain this end were, however, only
partially successful.
In 1862 a curious complaint was made against those who had for
so long been called Ignorantins, accusing them of teaching too many
things and overstepping the limits allowed by Article 23 of the law of
1850.[107]
When at Dijon, in 1862, Brother Pol-de-Léon made his request to
be instituted as director of the pensionnat, the administration
refused to grant it, on the ground that the title of “elementary
school” taken by the said pensionnat was in manifest contradiction
to the advanced instruction given there, and which included algebra,
geometry, trigonometry, French literature, cosmography, physics,
chemistry, mechanics, English, and German. The Brothers, thus
accused of distributing too much learning, replied that, if the law of
1850 did not mention these subjects of instruction, neither did it
prohibit them; they consented, however, to withdraw a portion from
this programme. The president of the provincial council, M.
Leffemberg, was merciful, and allowed some of the additions,
among which were English and German, to remain.
Subsequent arrangements have been made, by which a regular
course of secondary or higher instruction has been organized by the
Brothers. This is admirably carried on in their immense
establishment at Passy (amongst other places), and its normal
school is at Cluny; and no one now disputes with the institute the
honor of having been the originator of the special course of
secondary instruction which has been found to answer so
remarkably in France.
One of the most serious anxieties of Brother Philip under the
Second Empire arose in 1866 on the subject of dispensation from
military service. Since their reorganization the Brothers of the
Christian Schools had been exempted from serving in the army, on
account of their being already engaged in another form of service for
the public benefit, and on condition of their binding themselves for a
period of not less than ten years to the public instruction. A circular
of M. Duruy, by changing the terms of the law, deprived the Brothers
of their exemption, whilst in that very same month of February M. le
Maréchal Randon, in addressing general instructions to the marshals
of military divisions in the provinces, gave distinct orders that the
Brothers of the Christian Schools should not be required to serve, on
account of the occupation in which they were already engaged;
thus, in two contradictory circulars on the same question, the
interpretation of the Minister of Public Instruction was unfavorable to
the education of the people; the contrary being the case with that of
the Minister of War.
We have not space to give the particulars of the long struggle that
was carried on upon this question, and in which Cardinals Matthieu
and Bonnechose energetically took part with the Brothers; the
Archbishop of Rennes and the Bishop of Ajaccio also petitioning the
senate on their behalf. But in vain. To the great anguish of Brother
Philip, the senate voted according to the good pleasure of M. Duruy.
The superior-general left no means untried to avert the threatened
conscription of the young Brothers; he petitioned, he wrote, he
pleaded, with an energy and perseverance that nothing could daunt,
until the law, passed on the 1st of February, 1868, relieved him from
this pressing anxiety. He had unconsciously won for himself so high
an opinion in the country that his authority fought, as it were, for his
widespread family.
Ever since the Revolution of 1848 a great clamor has been raised
in France about the moral elevation of the laboring classes; but while
the innovators who believe only in themselves have been talking, the
Christian Brothers have been working. We have already mentioned
the classes for adults established by the predecessor of Brother
Philip. These, and especially the evening classes, were made by the
latter the objects of his especial attention. He arranged that linear
drawing should in these occupy a considerable place; thus there is
scarcely a place of any importance in France in which courses of
lessons in drawing do not form a part of the popular instruction,
and, with the exception of a few large towns which already
possessed a school of design, nearly all the working population of
the country has, up to the present time, gained its knowledge of the
art in the classes directed by the Brothers. Proof of this fact is yearly
afforded in the “Exhibition of the Fine Arts applied to Practical
Industries,” which, since 1860, has been annually opened at Paris,
and in which the productions of their schools are remarkable among
the rest for their excellence, as well as their number. The gold medal
as well as the high praise awarded them by the jury of the
International Exhibition in 1867 testified to the thoroughness of the
manner in which the pupils of the Christian Brothers are taught.
One of the gods worshipped by the XIXth century is “utility,” and
to such an extent by some of its votaries that one of them, some
years ago, proposed to the Pacha of Egypt to demolish the pyramids,
on the ground that they were “useless.” This reproach cannot
certainly be applied to the Brothers of the Christian Schools. All their
arrangements, their instructions, their daily life, have the stamp of
utility, and that of the highest social order.
 Although our space does not permit us to speak of the works of
the Brothers in detail, their variety answering, as it does, to all the
needs of the people, yet a few words must be given to that of S.
Nicolas, for the education of young boys of the working-classes.
Towards the close of the Restoration, in 1827, M. de Bervanger, a
priest, collected seven poor orphan children, whom he placed under
the care of an honest workman in the Rue des Anglaises (Faubourg
St. Marceau), who employed them in his workshop, his wife assisting
him in taking charge of them. This was the commencement of the
work of S. Nicolas. In a few months the little lodging was too small
for its increasing number of inmates, and, assistance having been
sent, a house was taken in the Rue de Vaugirard, where the boys
were taught various trades and manufactures, but still under a
certain amount of difficulty, a sum of seven or eight thousand francs
being pressingly required. It was at this time that M. de Bervanger
became acquainted with Count Victor de Noailles, who at once
supplied the sum, and from that time took a great and increasing
interest in the establishment, of which he afterwards became the
head. On the breaking out of the revolution of 1830 he saved it by
establishing himself there under the title of director; M. de
Bervanger, for the sake of prudence, having only that of almoner.
The two friends, being together at Rome in the winter of 1834-5,
were warmly encouraged in their undertaking by Pope Benedict
XIII., who desired Count Victor to remain at its head. Soon
afterwards a purchase of the house was effected, and in this house
of S. Nicolas the count died in the following year. From that time M.
de Bervanger took the sole direction, and the work prospered in
spite of every opposition. To meet its increased requirements he
bought the Château of Issy, and Mgr. Affre, Archbishop of Paris,
announced himself the protector of what he declared to be “the
most excellent work in his diocese.” The republic of 1848 was rather
profitable to it than otherwise. Former pupils of the house, enrolled
in the Garde Mobile, did their duty so bravely in quelling the terrible
insurrection of June that to fifteen of their number the Cross of
Honor was awarded, proving that in those days of violence the
gamin de Paris, the foundation or material of the work of S. Nicolas,
could be a hero.
This work, owing to the unbounded energy and devotion of its
reverend director, had immensely increased in efficiency and extent.
More than eleven hundred children were here receiving the
elementary instruction, religious and professional, of which no other
model existed. But although his courage never failed, his strength
declined, and, to save the work, he gave it up, in 1858, into the
hands of the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Morlot. A document exists
which proves it to have been necessary to resist the will of the holy
priest, in order that, after having given up the value of about a
million and a half of francs, without asking either board or lodging,
he should not be left utterly without resources. The archbishop, after
treating with the members of the council of administration and
obtaining the consent of Brother Philip, who threw himself heartily
into the work, placed S. Nicolas in the hands of the Brothers of the
Christian Schools, who for the last fifteen years have admirably
fulfilled this additional responsibility then confided to them. At the
time of their installation the Brothers appointed to S. Nicolas were
seventy in number; they have now increased to a hundred and
thirty, for the direction of the three houses, one of which is at Paris,
another at Issy, and the third at Igny. The house in the Rue
Vaugirard alone contains about a thousand boys, who are there
taught various trades; there are carpenters, cabinet-makers, carvers,
opticians, watchmakers, designers of patterns for different
manufactures, etc., etc. At the end of their apprenticeship these lads
can earn six, seven, or even eight francs a day. The most skilful
enter the schools of Arts et Métiers—arts and trades—the most
brilliant efforts being rewarded by the rank of civil engineer.
The large and fertile garden of Issy is a school of horticulture, and
at Igny the boys are taught field-labor and farming, as well as
gardening; the fruits and vegetables of Igny forming a valuable
resource for the house in the Rue Vaugirard, at Paris. The Sisters of
the Christian Schools have charge of the laundry and needle-work of
the three establishments. Once every month two members of the
council inspect these schools to the minutest details—the classes,
the workshops, the gardens, the house arrangements, the neatness
of the books, etc.—and interrogate the children.
Instrumental as well as vocal music is taught at S. Nicolas as a
professional art. A few years ago might be seen on the road from
Issy to Paris two battalions of youths who passed each other on the
way, the one that of the “little ones,” clad in blouses of black
woollen; the other the pupils and apprentices of the Rue Vaugirard,
in dark gray, each with its band of music. The passers-by called
them “the regiments of S. Nicolas.” In the French expedition into
China the band of the flag-ship was chiefly composed of former
pupils of these establishments, who, faithful to their old traditions,
had with them the banner of their patron saint, which was duly
displayed on grand occasions, to the great satisfaction of the admiral
commanding the expedition.
The idea of the celebrated Dr. Branchet, of placing blind and also
deaf and dumb children in the primary schools of the Brothers, has
been attended with the happiest results. These children enter at the
same age as those who can speak and see, and, like them, remain
until they have made their first Communion, and leave just at the
period when they can be received into special institutions, where
they are kept for eight years longer. The rapid improvement in these
poor children, who are under the care of the Brothers, and of the
Sisters of S. Vincent de Paul and of S. Marie, is truly wonderful.
Mistrust, timidity, and reserve speedily give place to cheerfulness,
confidence, and affection; the habitual contact with children who can
see and hear being a great assistance to the development of their
intelligence and capabilities.
In 1841 the Minister of the Interior, acting by desire of the local
authorities, requested that the Brothers should be sent to certain of
the great central prisons of France. The first essay was made at
Nîmes, where three Brothers were placed over that portion of the
prison appropriated to the younger offenders, in whom so great a
change for the better soon became apparent that a general desire
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