A hundred years ago, two religious centres were located in Tilburg. One was that of the Sisters of Charity, located at the Oude Dijk, the other was that of the Brothers CMM, located at what was then called the Gasthuisstraat. The Gasthuisstraat was dominated by the guest house (hospital), together with the Brothers’ mother house, and the Fathers’ Church. The teacher training college, the printing office and the boys’ orphanage were located some way from the road. All these elements comprised a community of its own, with the brothers’ monastery (which was occupied by 200 brothers in its heyday) as its centre. Bit by bit most of the buildings disappeared from what we now call the Gasthuisring: the hospital in 1929, the Fathers’ Church in 1956, and the printing office in 1992.
The Congregation of the Brothers CMM is called 'Congregatio Matris Misericordiae' in Latin and was founded by Joannes Zwijsen in 1844. The Brothers devoted themselves to educating (abandoned) children, blind people, and orphans, and to missionary activities.
Today the Brothers CMM have active communities in for instance Brazil and Kenya.
In Dutch / Nederlands
