From humble beginnings
The Brotherhood came together for their Jubilee celebrations recently and to look back on all the good they have done over the years.
A quarter-century ago the Brotherhood of Blessed Gerard was born in Mandeni and they have spent the last 25 years providing a comprehensive and holistic system of care for the most vulnerable members of the community.
The Brotherhood came together for their Jubilee celebrations recently and to look back on all the good they have done over the years.
Several important figures were there to celebrate with them, including: the Grand Hospitaller of the Order of Malta, Dominique Prince de La Rochefoucault-Montbel, who came all the way from Rome, the Apostolic Nuncio (ambassador) of the Vatican to South Africa, Archbishop Peter Wells and the Bishop of Eshowe, Xolelo Thaddeus Kumalo among a host of others from across South Africa and the world.
It was a day of prayer, delicious food, great entertainment and plenty of fun for young and old.
The brotherhood was founded on October 28, 1992 when the parish priest of the Roman Catholic Church in Mandeni, Father Gérard T.
Lagleder came together with several other community members and signed a “private agreement” to constitute a private association of Christ’s faithful for the purpose of fostering a more perfect life by works of charity.
The association was named “Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard” after Blessed Gérard, who founded a Hospitaller Brotherhood in 1099 in Jerusalem.
It was only 14 years later, in 1113, that Blessed Gérard’s foundation was recognised as a religious order by Pope Paschalis II and in that way became the oldest hospital order of the church.
The order, founded by Blessed Gérard, is today known as the Order of Malta.
The Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard, meanwhile, received acknowledgment as a Catholic association after only eight days (the church really has streamlined the process) and six months later, the government of the Order of Malta recognised the Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard as a relief organisation of the Order of Malta.
The Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard developed quickly from this small group of five founder members and is now the largest relief organisation of the Catholic Church in South Africa today.
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