Blessed Basil Moreau founded the order 175 years ago, but Holy Cross’ tradition, even as it is presently lived today, is rooted in the Congregation’s origins. To begin, Holy Cross is named for a place. The name of the order is Congregatio a Sancta Cruce (C.S.C.), literally the “Congregation of Holy Cross.” The Congregation is named for Sainte-Croix, a small French town on the outskirts of Le Mans in northwestern France, where Blessed Moreau founded it.

While the Congregation serves the Cross of Christ, its mission developed out of Sainte-Croix. It was a town with real people and real problems that needed both teachers and preachers. This rooting in a local community has shaped the mission of Holy Cross. To this day, Holy Cross seeks to foster deep commitments to Christ and the Church wherever it is found. Priests and brothers build communities in parishes, colleges, universities, schools, and international missionary locations.

To fill the spiritual and educational void of post-Revolutionary France, Blessed Moreau called on the priests and brothers of Holy Cross to be “educators in the faith,” who educate both mind and heart, with a preferential option for the poor, principally in schools, parishes, and mission work.

Blessed Moreau had great trust in divine providence, confidence in the “cross as our only hope,” and zeal to make “God known, loved, and served.” These qualities continue to define the Congregation today.

This distinctive charism and trust in divine providence has guided Holy Cross members to found world-renowned institutes of Catholic higher education and parishes across the United States and Mexico, along with other important ministries on five continents. The Congregation of Holy Cross is a vibrant and committed community thriving today with Blessed Moreau’s original zeal and passion to love and serve the people of God.

The Congregation offers the world hope in crosses, a great trust in divine providence, a familial spirit and unity, eucharistic fellowship and worship, belief that education is both of the mind and the heart, and apostolic zeal to make God known, loved, and served. These are the hallmarks of the Holy Cross spirituality.

In 1986, after the Second Vatican Council called upon religious orders to return to the spirit, aims, and inspirations of their founders, the General Chapter of the Congregation of Holy Cross, the highest governing body of the community, approved a new version of the order’s Constitutions.

In writing the Constitutions, which provide a definition of daily life in Holy Cross from prayer to community life, the Congregation purposefully reflected on the life of Blessed Moreau and the Holy Cross tradition. Eloquent, even poetic at times, they are at once both a beautiful articulation of and a moving reflection on religious life in Holy Cross.

Much of the language the Congregation uses today to describe itself and its mission comes from the Constitutions: “educators in the faith,” “a great band of men,” “men with hope to bring.” The final of the eight Constitutions is a meditation on the cross of Christ entitled “The Cross, Our Hope.”

Holy Cross spirituality includes confidence in the cross as our only hope. The cross is more than a dead piece of wood that we bear; it is a living thing, a new tree of life that is planted in our lives. As we allow this tree of the cross to take root and to grow in our lives, it begins to bear fruit, giving us new, abundant life.

The Congregation of Holy Cross joyously celebrates the life of its founder, Blessed Basil Moreau, on January 20th every year.

In 1821, Moreau was ordained a priest for the diocese, later becoming a seminary professor teaching philosophy and theology, while enthusiastically continuing his pastoral duties.

By 1835, Moreau had organized a group of young and energetic “auxiliary priests” whose mission was to travel the diocese, assisting in educational and spiritual growth programs at parishes. That same year, Bishop Jean-Baptiste Bouvier asked him to oversee the Brothers of St. Joseph, a group of educators founded by Rev. Jacques-François Dujarié. Two years later, on March 1, 1837, Fr. Moreau merged the priests and brothers and the association took its name from the small French town outside of Le Mans from which it was based, Sainte-Croix. The new order’s name became Congregatio a Sancta Cruce (hence the initials C.S.C.), which literally means “Congregation of Holy Cross.”

The Cross soon became an integral part of his community’s spirituality. The motto of the Congregation is Ave Crux, Spes Unica, which means “Hail the Cross, Our Only Hope” — calling on the community to “learn how even the Cross can be borne as a gift.”

Blessed Moreau’s vision was to complete and maximize the spiritual vigor of this association — to give it “one heart, one soul” — by modeling it after the Holy Family and bringing into it a group of sisters who would also be involved in education and evangelization.

Reflecting his association’s zeal to make God known, loved, and served, Moreau started sending members to other countries, including Algeria, Canada, Bangladesh, and the United States. He sent seven young men — six brothers and Father Edward Sorin — to the United States, where in 1842, they founded the University of Notre Dame. In 1857, the Holy See officially declared Moreau’s group to be a religious congregation and the Congregation of Holy Cross was born.

Moreau died on January 20, 1873, and was beatified on September 15, 2007.