Founder of the Irish Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers, Edmund was born in County Kilkenny, the son of prosperous tenant farmers and well-educated for the Catholic middle class. After becoming a wealthy merchant in Waterford, he married and was widowed with a handicapped daughter. Compassion for the downtrodden led to his vocation.
In 1808 Edmund and his companions took religious vows as monks in a diocesan congregation teaching poor boys. They opened new schools around Ireland, and in 1820 Rome approved the Congregation of Christian Brothers. Edmund served as superior general until 1838. His final years were marked by dementia and he didn’t know his order had spread to India, Australia and America. He was beatified in 1996.
