Br. Matthew of Jesus

Pierre Gelinas was born in St. Anne, Yamachiche, Canada, on December 15, 1842. At age eighteen he followed the example of two of his older blood brothers who had entered the novitiate at Montreal. He entered on August 7, 1860, and received the robe on April 7, 1861. His early assignments took him to St. Patrick's School in Chicago, Illinois; Bridgeport Orphanage in Chicago and as Director at St. Joseph's Orphanage, Glencoe, Missouri. He taught in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1868 to 1876 at Annunciation School and returned as Sub-Director (1876) and Director of Glencoe (1878) and as Sub-Director at Carondelet in 1897. Due to his health he spent the remainder of his religious life as a carpenter and procure at Glencoe, Missouri, and at Christian Brothers College in St. Louis, Missouri. His brother, Paul (Brother Thurien), died in 1899, a member of the Baltimore District, and his brother, Antonie (Brother Victurian), died in 1910, a member of the New York District. Brother Matthew died at age fifty-one a member of the St. Louis District, having been a De La Salle Christian Brother for thirty-four years.