The Little Brothers of Jesus Caritas are a branch of the Spiritual Family of Charles de Foucauld, the missionary-hermit of the Sahara (1858-1916).  Begun in the region of Umbria,  this branch is present in Italy and abroad.

It took its first steps in 1969 with the consent of the Bishop of Foligno, Mgr. Siro Silvestri.  On November 6, 1997, Mgr. Arduino Bertoldo erected the community as a religious congregation.

 

Following the footsteps of Blessed Charles de Foucauld (beatified 2005), the Fraternity is a place in which brothers learn to pray together and where, in the light of the Gospel, each one questions himself with truth and courage in order to discover the path that the Lord marks out for him.  The community sets out to be a sign and a statement that in Jesus Christ the utopia of love becomes feasible.

 

The Little Brothers of Jesus Caritas consecrate their lives to the love of God and of all men; to the practice of the evangelical counsels; to continuous prayer for both the local and the universal Church, for all men, especially the poorest and those who do not know the Gospel yet.  All of this is inserted without reserve in the diocesan community, in union with the bishop, the priests, the deacons, and all the people of God.

 

The day of the Little Brothers has its own rhythm with the singing of the Liturgy of the Hours, the Eucharistic celebration and adoration, lectio divina, and the time for periods of solitude, periods of work, and pastoral ministry in the local Church.

 

The Abbey of Sassovivo, Foligno, is the residence of the Prior General and also houses the direction and administration of the quarterly journal of spirituality “Famiglia Carlo de Foucauld – Jesus Caritas” and of other editorial undertakings linked to the spiritual message of Father de Foucauld as, for example, the writings of Brother Carlo Carretto (1910-1988) taken from his own material kept in the Sassovivo archives.

 

The Little Brothers offer the hospitality of their Fraternity to priests, religious, and others who wish to share with them some time of silence and prayer in order to search for the plan of God in their own lives.       

 

The History

 

     The beginnings of the Community date back to the years of Vatican Council II, “the most important ecclesial event of the 20^th century”, and the course of events in the life of Gian Carlo Sibilia, the founder and actual Prior General.

     Brother Gian Carlo was born on November 27, 1934 and was an active member of Italian Catholic Action and he experienced at close quarters the developments in the Council.  His diary reads, 11 October 1962:  morning and evening in St. Peter’s for the opening of Vatican Council II.  It is not just a historic occasion experienced at very close quarters but above all, thanks to a greater understanding of the mystery of the Church, an intuition so strong as rarely to be repeated that causes me so much emotion and gratitude to the Lord Jesus.

     In 1963 Brother Gian Carlo came in contact with the Little Sisters of Jesus living at Tre Fontane (Rome) and thus, through them, with the spirituality of Charles de Foucauld.  Then a period of vocational discernment began for him which concretized itself in August 1965 when he went to Spello to begin his religious journey in the community of the Little Brothers of the Gospel.

    At Spello, he met Brother Carlo Carretto and, shortly afterwards, Father René Voillaume, the founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus.  His personal vocation matured in the silence of San Girolamo, the little monastery where the Fraternity resided.

     On 19 March 1967, encouraged by Br. Carlo Carretto and with the agreement of Father Voillaume, Br. Gian Carlo, together with two other young men began a new experience at Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna): a Fraternity of prayer and work among the people but very sensitive to and attentive to the life of the local Church. 

     It was on 15 October 1969, when Br. Gian Carlo and Br. Pietro established themselves at Limiti di Spello (PG), that a new venture of the Fraternity began and this event marks the actual foundation of the Little Brothers of Jesus Caritas.

   The Community received the first canonical approbation in 1982 from Bishop Giovanni Benedetti and the definitive one in 1987.  Mgr Arduino Bertolo raised it to an Institute of the Consecrated Life on 6 November 1997.

     Since 1984 it has become officially a part of the Association of the Spiritual Family of Charles de Foucauld.

     Limiti was a beginning in every sense.  With the passing of the years, the community grew in number and this made it possible to found other Fraternities in various contexts.  In the diocese of Foligno, the brothers carry out various activities without excluding a full insertion in the life of some parochial communities.

     Since 1979, the Little Brothers have been present in the Abbey of Sassovivo: an ancient Benedictine monastery built during the 11^th to the 13^th centuries, constantly visited by individuals and groups who come for various reasons (history, art, spirituality, tourism, etc.); quite a number of them come explicitly attracted by the spirituality of de Foucauld.

     The Little Brothers of Jesus Caritas are present in Nazareth.  In April 1996, at the meeting of the Spiritual Family of Charles de Foucauld held in Haiti, the brothers who represented the Prior General, along with all the other participants, listened to an  invitation from the Little Sisters of Jesus: they asked if someone would feel able to take over for at least two years the Fraternity at Nazareth which they had to leave temporarily.  It is in the place where Charles de Foucauld lived as a hermit from 1897 to 1900. 

     The presence of the Fraternity in Nazareth has been well accepted by the people of God and has received the blessing of His Beatitude the Latin Patriarch, Mgr. Michel Sabbah and that of his Vicar for the Latin Patriarchate, Mgr. Giacinto Boulos Marcuzzo.

     Today, in the Holy Land “the visit to the chapel of frère Charles” has become for many people an integral part of their pilgrimage.