A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of an 'order' of religious persons (nuns, priests, friars, etc) or, in other words, of a 'religious institute' in the Catholic Church, and in some other Christian denominations. The superior general usually holds supreme 'executive' authority in the religious community, subject only to the Pope in the case of Catholic orders, while the general chapter has 'legislative' authority. Many Catholic superiors general are elected (directly or indirectly) by their order's membership, and are based in Rome, and thus facilitate their order's engagement with other elements of church leadership (the Pope; the Roman Curia; other orders' leadership).
___De_La_Salle_Brothers_q.jpg)
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier
Superior general (Christianity) in the context of Motherhouse
A motherhouse or mother house is the principal house or community for a Catholic religious community. One example is the Missionaries of Charity's motherhouse in Kolkata, which functions as the congregation's headquarters. A motherhouse would normally be where the residence and offices of the religious superior of the community would be located. If the community is divided geographically, it is referred to as the provincial motherhouse and would be where the regional superior would be in residence.
Superior general (Christianity) in the context of Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City. He is the first Pope to have been born in the United States, the first to hold either U.S. or Peruvian citizenships, the first from the Order of Saint Augustine, and the second (after his immediate predecessor Pope Francis) from the Americas.
Prevost was born in Chicago and raised in the nearby suburb of Dolton, Illinois. He became a friar in the Order of Saint Augustine in 1977 and was ordained as a priest in 1982. He earned a Doctor of Canon Law (JCD) degree in 1987 from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. His service includes extensive missionary work in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, during which he worked as a parish pastor, diocesan official, seminary teacher, and administrator. Elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine, he was based in Rome from 2001 to 2013, and traveled extensively as part of this work, including to the order's many provinces and missions around the world. He then returned to Peru as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome, and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Superior general (Christianity) in the context of Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
The De La Salle Brothers, officially named the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (Latin: Fratres Scholarum Christianarum; French: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes; Italian: Fratelli delle Scuole Cristiane) abbreviated FSC, is a Catholic lay religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in France by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (1651–1719), now based in Rome, Italy. The De La Salle Brothers are also known as the Christian Brothers (sometimes by Lasallian organisations themselves), French Christian Brothers, or Lasallian Brothers. The Lasallian Christian Brothers are distinct from the Congregation of Christian Brothers, often also referred to as simply the Christian Brothers, or Irish Christian Brothers. The Lasallian Brothers use the post-nominal abbreviation FSC to denote their membership of the order, and the honorific title Brother, abbreviated "Br."
The Lasallian order stated that as of December 2023 the Institute had 2,883 Brothers, who helped in running 1,154 education centers in 78 countries with 1,160,328 students, together with 107,827 teachers and lay associates. There are La Salle educational institutions in countries ranging from impoverished nations such as Nigeria to post-secondary institutions such as Bethlehem University (Bethlehem, Palestine), Manhattan University (New York City, US), College Mont La Salle (Ain Saadeh, Lebanon), and La Salle University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US). The central administration of the Brothers operates out of the Generalate in Rome and is made up of the Superior General and his councillors.