MBT - History

History of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel

The Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel were founded by St. Louis de Montfort in France in 1715. This great missionary spent all his life in the service of the poor and the less fortunate. He saw thousands of children who needed help to live as children of God. He gathered around him a band of willing and devoted Brothers. Together they went about teaching the lessons of the great Teacher Christ to those poor children, and brought happiness into their lives.

After the death of Montfort, the Brothers continued the good work started by him. God blessed them and wanted them elsewhere too. They spread to Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa.

Three Brothers of St. Gabriel from France went to India in 1903. Soon local young men joined our Society. Now there are over 400 Brothers working all over India in about 70 institutions for Youth. We undertake all kinds of youth works.

The idea of Boys Town in Fiji originated with the Prime Minister of Fiji, the President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who had been aware of the increasing members of young people in the country who had not been able to secure jobs for themselves because of lack of education and job skills. When he was in Singapore in 1971, the President visited a Boys Town run by the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel. Then he got the idea of starting a Boys' Town in Fiji.

The Government of Fiji invited the Montfort Brothers through the Archbishop Pearce to set up this Boys Town as an attempt to solve, to some extent the problems of:

Unemployment among youth and its social consequences.
Shortage of semi skilled and skilled workers and its adverse effects on the economy.

Three Brothers from India came to Fiji in 1973 and with the assistance of the Church, Government and Peoples of Fiji, West Germany and the Netherlands, have established a Boys' Town to help the under-priviliged youth, irrespective of race or religion. The first group of students were admitted on March 18th in 1976.

We are eager that local young men join our Society, so that our apostolate will continue, spread and be firmly established in the South Pacific.

So, we appeal to generous young men of the South Pacific to help us to continue and spread our apostolate of the Youth in this part of the World, by joining our Society. Any Catholic young man with reasonably good physical and mental health and eagerness to dedicate his life for the service of God and humanity, and has passed at least School Cert. Exams with good marks can apply to the Vocation Director, Brothers of St. Gabriel, P.O. Box 14421, Suva, Fiji, or e-mail mbt@suva.is.com.fj or kallely@suva.is.com.fj, for more details.