In vino pietas
From Dr Joseph Lambert Sir: It is possible that the recent comment on the Christian Brothers (Michael Vestey, Books, 16 November/Professor Dandeker, Letters, 14/21 December) confuses the Irish Christian Brothers with the older and possibly better known order outside the UK, the De La Salle Christian Brothers. In the US, 'Christian Brothers' would most likely refer to the latter order founded by the French saint Jean Baptiste de la Salle. As well as having as their mission 'to give a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor', this order is well known as having helped to develop the Californian wine industry. I was well educated in Liverpool by this order of Christian Brothers in the 1940s and 1950s, and it would be a pity if their reputation were in any way tarnished by a wrong inference.
Joseph Larnbert
Cobham, Surrey
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