Bethlehem Brothers

The Bethlehemite Brothers are a religious institute founded in Guatemala in 1653 and restored in 1984.

Their official name is Order of Bethlehemite Brothers (Ordo Fratrum Bethlemitarum: O.F.B.), or Bethlehem Brothers (Hermanos de Belén), and the members, like the members of two other Catholic religious orders, are known as Bethlehemites (Betlemitas). They are also known as the Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Bethlehem (Orden de los Hermanos de Nuestra Señora de Bethlehem).

In 2007, the order had 17 members, living in a single community.

The information in the two following sections is taken mainly from an article in the 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia.

The Bethlehemite Brothers were founded by in Guatemala in 1658 by Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur, a native of the Canary Islands. From childhood he had led a pious, austere life and in 1650 left family and country to carry out his desire of going to the West Indies. During the following year he reached Guatemala, the capital of New Spain, where he intended to prepare for the priesthood that later he might go forth and evangelize Japan. Three years of unsuccessful study at a Jesuit college led him to abandon this idea and, after holding the position of sacristan for a while in a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, he rented a house in a suburb of the city called Calvary, and there taught reading and catechism to poor children, but this charitable work did not furnish sufficient outlet for his zeal.

The condition of the sick poor excited his compassion and he sheltered them in his home which he converted into a hospital. His zeal elicited benefactions from those around him and the bishop and governor supplied him with all the conveniences he required. Several individuals provided for the purchase of the houses surrounding the one he then occupied and on their site was erected a hospital in which this servant of God could labour to better advantage. He himself worked with the masons. The hospital was thoroughly equipped and stocked and even offered an opportunity for the religious installment of those who tended the sick. The institution was placed under the patronage of Our Lady of Bethlehem.

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