self , with unreserved ' confidence , to Divine Providence , and say : Sperocontra Spern . [ I hope against hope .] The mission is sending me , then , to make a last attempt , bu t it will furnish me wi th no funds at all . It will be necessary once again to don the habit of St . Francis and invoke his spirit in myself : So , on 25 October 1850 , Beurel set out from Singapore in a ship called L ' Artilleur . He arrived in France in the middle of the following March . Three days later he saw Brother Philip and the personal encounter achieved what years of correspondence had failed to do . The English-speaking Brothers materialised and they were soon on their way from the United States . Assured of the cooperation of the Brothers he now sought the help of the Mother Superior ofSt Maur for nuns for his Convent . Then with a light heart he set out for London , where he stayed a short time .
He was in France for nine months . During this time he went to his home at St Brieuc , in Brittany , where he saw his mother and his sister . He preached all over the diocese , and made a public appeal in the press for funds . He still did not have all the money needed and his party now consisted of fourteen persons .
On 8 December 1851 the little party were on board La [ ulie and freezing with cold . They were all working hard at their languages and although the Brothers had spent money on things that Father Beurel considered perfectly useless as they were already available on board , he did not raise the least objection .
' We live in the greatest unity and concord ,' he wrote , ' and God grant that this is so at the end of our passage . As for my colleagues , they are angels of peace and gentleness .' This harmony was soon marred by a misunderstanding that occurred when they reached the Equator and were invited to submit to the traditional wetting in sea wa ter by a sailor dressed as Father N eptune . Beurel wrote to Father Albrand on 17 January :
La [ ulie , from a sketch by Admiral F . E . Paris .
' We are at this moment on the Equator . We have had little wind for six days but we are going to have more ; Our ship goes well and the Captain treats us perfectly . He has , above all , a particular concern for the Sisters .
' All was going perfectly for the Brothers until we crossed the Equator . Then they were all made to submit to the " baptism ", following the custom , and then all was lost . You would hardly believe what they had to say on this subject . Brother Liefroy went so far as to say publicly that we should have prevented this baptism from taking place , and that if they had thought of it , they would have demanded 200 francs each to give the sailors rather than undergo such an indignity ... Now this baptism was only a simple joke , at which the short and very likeable Father Chayot laughed -besides, no one was obliged to undergo it and M Beurel did not undergo it himself , because he did not wish to . It is because of a misunderstanding that the Brothers underwent it .
' The sisters were present and they found nothing to take exception to .
' The Brothers will write about it to their Superior and this will doubtless be a very troublesome cause of friction .
' Apart from this all goes well : however , there are many precautions to take to avoid irritating the Brothers , who have little education . They have hurt the feelings of the Sisters , who are admirable - all are studying very hard .' It was not until 29 March 1852 , that the little party disembarked at Singapore . They had been saddened by the death on board of one of the sisters who had been destined to become the Mother Superior of the Convent . Notwithstanding , a special Teum Deum was sung in the Church of the Good Shepherd to give thanks for their arrival .
Three of the Brothers , Lothaire , Venere and [ erome , then proceeded to Penang to start a school there . Father Beurel was left with three Brothers to begin his school in Singapore . Of these , Brother Liefray , a Frenchman , was to be the Director of the school and to combine with this task the role of Brother Visitor as well , with authority over the school in Penang . This meant that he was sometimes away from Singapore . So the main burden of the teaching fell on Brother Gregory , an Irish Brother . By all accounts he was an excellent schoolmaster , but he was not tactful in his handling of Father Beurel , and there were sad consequences of this clash of personalities .
The third Brother was called Brother Swedbert . Aged fifty-seven , he was the oldest of the three men . An Irishman , he had joined the Brothers in the United States and there he had volunteered to work in Singapore . He was much liked . Unfortunately , he was nearly always ill , so he was not of much help to Brother Gregory .
This band of Brothers lived at first with Father Beurel , and they found the life very hard . Father Beurel had said that they would be treated like the spoiled children of Divine Providence , but he seems to have been very careful to economise .
On 28 July 1852 , Brother Liefroy wrote :
' Wha t I am writing to you is not a com plain t , nor a criticism , but is only to make our position clear to our dear Brother Superior and Father . Here is an account of the way in which we have been fed duringthe four months that we have been with Father Beurel .
' Breakfast is at half-past eight in the morning , when we have a dish of pork or of fish , a dish of rice and one of vegetables . According to the custom of the country the drink is always water . For dessert there are three things that appear every day at every second meal : cheese , banana and pineapple .
' At noon we have some mouthfuls of bread , a banana and a little drop of wine to strengthen the stomach . In this country , where the heat is so great , one hardly wants to eat anything at this hour of the day , however , this is necessary to sustain one ' s health and strength .
The Founder and the First Brothers 5