ABSTRACT
Much of the history of social welfare can be traced back to Church involvement in care provision deriving from a monastic tradition. The post-Reformation period witnessed the growth of different kinds of religious congregations that were not monastic but sought to provide an active religious presence in the towns and cities that began to emerge with industrialisation. Although himself a priest, De La Salle decided that members of the Order of Brothers should not be ordained, but should dedicate themselves exclusively to the education of youth. In the autumn of 1844, Don Bosco was appointed assistant chaplain to the Rifugio, where another priest, Don Borel, joined him in his work. The Irish Christian Brothers were founded in Waterford in 1802, by a local merchant, Edmund Rice. It was not only male orders that responded to the needs of the urban poor.
