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Brother André Mottais, C.S.C.
Born in Larchamp, France in 1800, Pierre Mottais answered Father Jacques Dujarie’s call to a new religious community in 1820 and took the name Brother Andre. Since Father Dujarie felt inadequate to form the young
men in religious spirituality, he sent Brother Andre to live with the Christian Brothers in order to learn the rudiments of their prayer and work style. As novice master for Dujarie’s Brothers of St. Joseph,
Brother Andre then directed more than 300 novices by the year 1829. Six years later as the little community disintegrated because of Dujarie’s failing health, Brother Andre asked the bishop to entrust the Brothers
to younger hands. Thus Brother Basil Moreau assumed superiorship of the group, and Brother Andre was the first of his men to take final vows. Brother Andre’s most important assignment in his last few years was to
Algiers where his health deteriorated. Returning to France in 1842, he died at Lemans in 1844 at the age of 44. The Congregation of Holy Cross owes much to him since it was his strength and wisdom that not only held
the first Brothers of St. Joseph together but also fomented the move of the group into the capable hands of Father Moreau.
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