my death - if that does not occur within thirty years - several Chinese parishes established in the island of Singapore and the surrounding area . May this wish come true !
' One great thing is lacking : 1do not cease to ponder over it day and night : that is a Brothers ' School . 1have already spoken to you about it and 1shall speak to you about it again . But 1must above all finish my church and see my debts are paid .' The teaching Order known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools , founded by John Baptist de La Salle in 1680 , was a body of lay schoolmasters who had already proved their worth all over France . Their vocation was to provide an education for the poor . Father Beurel had an immense admiration for them and set himself the task of persuading them to come out to the Far East . In 1847that was still a dream , but his church , which he dedicated to the Good Shepherd , was by now a reality .
On 4 July 1847he wrote to Paris :
' I have at last the pleasure of informing you tha t my church is completed . 1 blessed it on the 6th . of June , the feast of Corpus Christi , exactly four years after we laid the first stone . Monsignor Boucho should have come here himself to perform the blessing but he was prevented from doing so by different matters which detained him in Penang .
1t was a beautiful and impressive ceremony . We began it at seven in the morning and it ended at eleven 0 ' clock . 1was accompanied by my dear colleagues Messieurs Mauduit and Issaly and by our venerable Chinese priest [ Reverend Father John Tchu ].
' After we had ended the blessing we all went over to the former chapel in order to fetch the Holy Sacrament and to carry it to the new church . This procession was truly imposing and several of our Christians could not restrain their tears of joy and emotion . More than 1500 persons were present , and all in the deepest silence , above all our
Chinese who gazed with admiration and surprise at the beautiful building where , from henceforth , they would say their prayers .
' I was deeply moved myself , for 1 had worked for seven years to bring this enterprise toa successful conclusion , upon which depends to a great extent the success of the Catholic cause in this country , and l saw myself , at last , at the end of the trouble and anxiety it had cost me .' After giving a summary of his sermon he continued on the theme of the Brothers ' School :
' You must know that it is to this end that my efforts will now be directed . 1do not wish to rest until 1have a good school . It is absolutely necessary to implant in the hearts of children a truly Catholicfaith ; this is the only way to lift them out of the mixture of heresy and schism tha t they meet in their families and in the Protestant schools . God grant that I may succeed in this second enterprise , whose importance 1put well above the construction of my new church !' He added a final prayer about the Brothers :
' May 1then , before 1die , have the happiness of seeing these guardian angels of childhood treading upon the soil of Malaysia .' Meanwhile , Father Beurel had begun to collect money for the adornment of his church , as well as for the school . In August 1847he composed a courtly letter to Queen Marie-Amelie of France asking for pictures for the church ; then he continued :
' A church without a school is like a King without progeny . There is no need for me to address Your Majesty about the usefulness of a Christian school , above all if it is directed by the Brothers of the Christian Schools . The principal difficulty to be overcome is the cost of transport : - the undersigned , confident of the pious sympathy which is bound to be given by YourMajesty to an enterprise so essentially Christian , dares once more to address His Excellency , the Minister for Foreign Affairs , to ask ifhe could gran t to a small number of
Brothers , whose help is essential to the direction of a Catholic school in Singapore , a free passage on a Naval vessel sailing for China .
' Already the name and title of your Majesty to the gratitude of the Catholic congregation of this country has been solemnly consecrated . The august name of your Majesty is carved on a piece of white marble placed on the Altar of the Virgin .
' May there be soon a similar inscription , placed in the Catholic school , to call forth for ever the blessing and gratitude of its students upon your name !
' Thus will be transmitted to posterity the memory of virtues already famous in Europe ; the Missionary will see it on his journeys ; future generations will bless France when they see what the Monarch , the Queen and the Royal Family of this noble Kingdom have done for those countries , which have hitherto seemed to be for ever enslaved to ignorance and idolatry .
The undersigned , is , with the very deepest respect , Madame , the very humble and very faithful servant of your Majesty .
' J . M . Beurel . M . Ap .'
Soon after this he applied to the Brothers for their help . The Superior of the Brothers at this time , Philip Bransiet , is credited with the greatest expansion his Order has ever seen . At the end of his life the number of Brothers had grown from 2700 to 11,570 . He had opened 1002 schools , 269 outside of France - 98 in Europe , 26 in Asia , 44 in Africa , 101in America . His tenure of office lasted from 1838 to 1874 . He was , however , decidedly circumspect , and it was with eaution tha t he received the first request for Brothers to come to the Far East .
In Singapore Father Beurel fretted and fumed . In March 1848 he wrote to Father Albrand :
' The matter of the Brothers has broken down completely , but 1will setiton its feet again ! Besure of it ! 1am astonished tha t a Superior of the Brothers should not dare to send his subjects to far off places , for fear that they might be spoiled and cor-
2 Memories ofSf1