Edmund Ignatius Rice
founder of the Congregation of Christian Brothers
Feast: 5 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Edmund Rice was born at Westcourt, Ireland, on 1 June 1762. The penal laws barred Catholics from careers in the army, the state or the law, so he was apprenticed in his uncle's export business.
He gave himself with great zeal and perseverance to educating poor boys and young men, and to extend the work founded the Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A businessman who put his life and means into schooling the poor boys of Ireland.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Edmund Ignatius Rice
- Wikidata Q1286473 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Edmund Ignatius Rice (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.