<P> On 15 August 1808 seven men, including Edmund Rice, took religious promises under Bishop John Power of Waterford . Following the example of Nano Nagle's Presentation Sisters, they were called "Presentation Brothers". This was one of the first congregations of men to be founded in Ireland and one of the few founded in the Church by a layman . </P> <P> Houses were soon opened in Carrick - on - Suir, Dungarvan, and in 1811, in Cork . In 1812 the Archbishop of Dublin established a community in the nation's capital and by 1907 there were ten communities in Dublin, with pupils in excess of 6,000 . The schools included primary, secondary and technical schools, along with orphanages and a school for the deaf . A community was founded in Limerick in 1816, followed by establishments in several of Ireland's principal towns . </P> <P> The Holy See formally established the congregation in 1820 . This, too, was an unusual event, since the Christian Brothers were the first Irish congregation of men approved by a charter from Rome . </P> <P> Some brothers in Cork chose to remain under the original Presentation rule and continued to be known as Presentation Brothers, a separate congregation but also recognising Edmund Rice as its Founder . </P>

When did the pope give final approval for the congregation of the christian brothers