Edmund Rice founded his Congregation of Brothers in Waterford in 1802 as a diocesan Congregation under the patronage of the local ordinary, Dr. Thomas Hussey. Gradually, the Congregation grew and spread beyond the boundaries of the diocese of Waterford. With the spread of the Congregation to other dioceses, Edmund saw the need for a structure different from the diocesan structure to hold his new congregation.  

To facilitate the move away from a diocesan structure, Edmund, with the approval of Dr. Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, applied to the Holy See for an Apostolic Brief. In due course, Pope Pius VII granted Edmund’s request, and issued the formal brief establishing the Congregation as an Apostolic Institute in 1820. The Brothers formally accepted the brief in Mount Sion on the Feast of the Holy Name, 20 January 1822, and elected Edmund Rice as the first Superior General. Nineteen of the thirty Brothers eligible to vote were present on that historic day. 

As the early decades of the nineteenth century slipped by, the Congregation steadily grew in membership so that before Edmund’s death in 1844, the Brothers had opened a number of schools in England. Before the end of the nineteenth century, the congregation had spread to Oceania, India and North America. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Congregation experienced a period of rapid growth, and new foundations were made in all five continents. Although the period of rapid growth has passed, the Congregation now finds itself involved in ministry in over thirty different countries with very diverse cultural traditions and very diverse pastoral needs. 

Since the Congregation Chapter of 1996, there has been a concerted effort to focus the missionary effort of the Brothers on those who are poor and marginalised in our society. This refocusing of effort has led to the involvement of Brothers in new and challenging ministries around the world.

In recent times, the ageing of the Brothers and the lessening of vocations in the more affluent areas in which the Congregation is involved have coincided with a wonderful flowering of a spirit and collaboration and partnership in ministry with fellow workers and associates. Many of the Brothers’ schools are now largely or wholly staffed by lay teachers, while growth in the Volunteer and Associate movements has seen an extraordinary expansion of Edmund’s vision and influence.