Home Handbook Brother Charles Fraternity The Path for the Sake of Jesus Our Only Rule Nazareth Abandonment Contemplation The Desert A Living Gospel A Universal and Particular Love Our Mandate The Way of Fraternity Order of Meeting Gospel Sharing Adoration Review of Life Ecumenism Leadership The Decision to Live In Fraternity Commitment Money Appendix Prayers Songs

Little Brothers and Sisters of the Eucharist Handbook Introduction The Lay Fraternities are small Christian communities which have grown out of the life and spirit of Brother Charles of Jesus.  Brother Charles was born the Viscount Charles de Foucauld into a devout French Catholic family. Orphaned at age six, Charles lost his faith in his teens, sought adventure as a soldier and then as an explorer in Morocco.  Converted from his dissolute life he entered a Trappist Monastery for seven years only to leave seeking a more hidden life in total insecurity.  He then lived for the next two years as a hermit at Nazareth in the Holy land. In 1901 Charles was ordained to the priesthood and set out to live a life of Gospel simplicity and ardent love among the poorest and most neglected tribes of the Sahara.  Brother Charles  life became a continuous effort to live completely for God and to become a brother to all. On December 1, 1916 Brother Charles of Jesus was killed outside his desert dwelling.  His vocation was to be a grain of wheat falling into the earth to bear fruit in the years to come. During his lifetime Brother Charles spent a great deal of time drafting a handbook for the communities of brothers he hoped would join him.  The community he had hoped for never grew until after his death.  Now the Foucauld family embraces laity, a variety of religious communities, and diocesan priests, each with their handbooks  inspired by the charism of Brother Charles.  The function of these handbooks is to show each group, in practical terms and within the framework of their own vocation, as priests, religious or laity, how to live a life that is in full accord with the teaching and example of Brother Charles de Foucauld.