dIntroduction to Journal of Travels by Brother Arsène Brouard from France to Mexico.
The 1904 French law known as Coombs Law—officially The Law on the Suppression of Congregational Catholic Teaching—banned the teaching in schools by members of religious orders. Only secular schools at all levels were legal. The assets of the religious scbools were determined and many were liquidated. In all, half of the 6000 religious schools were closed. The Christian Brothers were, and still are, a teaching order of the Catholic Church and were therefore banned from teaching unless they abandoned their vows and any appearance of religious connections. Christian Brothers who refused to comply with the secularization of schools were allowed to leave France and take teaching positions other countries.
Bother Arsène and two others were assigned by their Superiors to teach in established schools of the Christian Brothers in Puebla, Mexico. After training in Spanish in Clermont the Brothers departed for Mexico in June of 1906.
Brother Arsène kept a detailed journal of his travels in France from Claremont to Béziers, then to Barcelona, New York City, and finally to Puebla, Mexico. This journal is preserved at les Archives lasalliennes in Lyon, France. Brother Arsène sent the journal to his family in 1906 and its existence was not otherwise known until 1991 when a representative of Arsène’s family presented it to the Archives.
The translation given here is based on the original handwritten manuscript and a typed transcription made when the Archives received the journal.
The 1904 French law known as Coombs Law—officially The Law on the Suppression of Congregational Catholic Teaching—banned the teaching in schools by members of religious orders. Only secular schools at all levels were legal. The assets of the religious scbools were determined and many were liquidated. In all, half of the 6000 religious schools were closed. The Christian Brothers were, and still are, a teaching order of the Catholic Church and were therefore banned from teaching unless they abandoned their vows and any appearance of religious connections. Christian Brothers who refused to comply with the secularization of schools were allowed to leave France and take teaching positions other countries.
Bother Arsène and two others were assigned by their Superiors to teach in established schools of the Christian Brothers in Puebla, Mexico. After training in Spanish in Clermont the Brothers departed for Mexico in June of 1906.
Brother Arsène kept a detailed journal of his travels in France from Claremont to Béziers, then to Barcelona, New York City, and finally to Puebla, Mexico. This journal is preserved at les Archives lasalliennes in Lyon, France. Brother Arsène sent the journal to his family in 1906 and its existence was not otherwise known until 1991 when a representative of Arsène’s family presented it to the Archives.
The translation given here is based on the original handwritten manuscript and a typed transcription made when the Archives received the journal.
The first of 51 pages of Arsène's handwritten journal is shown below.