The Brothers’ Superior General in France wrote a letter of encouragement on this date to Brother John Chrysostom (Barat), the first American Brother to receive the Robe in the U.S. (not Montreal): “It is indeed with all my heart that I pray God to bless you as the first novice of New York, but especially to make you the model of those who will come after you….”
Bro. Angelus Gabriel (FSC). The Christian Brothers in the United States 1848-1948: A Century of Catholic Education (New York: Declan McMullen, 1948), p. 113.