Editing Congregation of Holy Cross (section)

==History==
{{Main|Basil Moreau}}
===Two Societies===
Basile Antoine-Marie Moreau was born at [[Laigné-en-Belin]], near [[Le Mans]], France, on February 11, 1799, in the final months of the [[French Revolution]]. When Moreau decided to enter the [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priesthood]], he was forced to undergo his [[seminary]] training in secret for fear that the French government would arrest him. He completed his studies and was ordained for the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Le Mans|Diocese of Le Mans]] in 1821. The French government continued to work for the removal of the Church from the educational system, which left many Catholics without a place to be educated or catechized.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Connelly|first=James T.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1223098369|title=The History of the Congregation of Holy Cross|date=2020|publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|isbn=978-0-268-10888-5|location=Notre Dame, IN|oclc=1223098369}}</ref> In 1835,  Moreau had formed a group, which he called "Auxiliary Priests", to serve the educational and evangelization needs of the Diocese of Le Mans.{{Cn|date=April 2025}}

On July 15, 1820, a priest of the Diocese of Le Mans, [[Jacques-Francois Dujarié]], brought together a group of zealous men to serve the educational needs of the people in the French countryside.<ref name="chc">[http://www.holycrosscongregation.org/about-us/history/ "History", Congregation of Holy Cross]</ref> Fr. Dujarié named this group the Brothers of [[Saint Joseph|St. Joseph]]. By 1835 this group was well established in the diocese, but Dujarié was getting older and they were in need of a new leader. Dujarié and Moreau had met previously and discussed their views on the future of the Church in France and so Dujarié knew that Moreau was just the man he was looking for. With the consent of the bishop, Moreau was given control of the Brothers of St. Joseph on August 31, 1835. He was now the head of two organizations, the Auxiliary Priests and the Brothers of St. Joseph.{{Cn|date=April 2025}}

===The Association of Holy Cross===
In 1837, Moreau made the decision to combine his two communities into one society so that the priests and brothers could share resources and ministries in common.<ref name="chc" /> On March 1, 1837, the priests and brothers gathered in the church of [[Notre Dame de Sainte Croix, Le Mans|Notre-Dame de Sainte-Croix, Le Mans]], in the Sainte-Croix district of [[Le Mans]] to sign the Fundamental Act of Union which legally joined them into one association. This new group took on the name of where they met and became the Association of Holy Cross. Initially Holy Cross was a diocesan group and so they primarily served in whatever capacity the bishop asked of them. In 1840 this changed when Moreau received a request to send a delegation from his society to [[Algeria]] with the purpose of establishing schools and a seminary. It was at this point that Moreau shifted the focus of Holy Cross and after the first missionaries left in April 1840 the association took on the identity of a [[religious institute]]. On August 15, 1840, Moreau and four others became the first professed religious in the Association of Holy Cross. As part of his plan to form this religious institute, Moreau also brought together the first group of women who would become the Marianites of Holy Cross.{{Cn|date=April 2025}}

In 1841, he sent a group to the [[United States]], establishing the first Holy Cross institution in North America at [[University of Notre Dame|Notre Dame]] in [[Indiana]]. The institute expanded further by establishing missions in [[Canada]] in 1847 and in [[Bangladesh|East Bengal]] in 1852.<ref name="chc" />

This association of priests, brothers, and sisters, would continue in roughly the same form until May 13, 1857, when [[Pope Pius IX]] approved the first constitutions of the priests and brothers. From that point on the Association officially became the Congregation of Holy Cross. Doubting the propriety of a mixed congregation of men and women, Rome separated the women into an independent community at that time. Moreau, in his role as their founder, continued to work for Rome's approval of the sisters' constitution. In 1865, Rome approved the constitutions of the [[Marianites of Holy Cross]], granting them the status of an Apostolic congregation.{{Cn|date=April 2025}}