Bethlehemite Brothers

The Bethlehemite Brothers are a Catholic male religious order founded around 1658 in Guatemala by Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur, a native of Spain's Canary Islands who arrived in Antigua Guatemala in 1651, abandoned plans for the priesthood, and began teaching poor children before converting his home into a hospital for the poor and later building a larger facility. As helpers gathered around his work they became known as Bethlehemites, and members took an additional vow, beyond the standard religious commitments, of caring for the sick even at the risk of their own lives; the order expanded across Latin America establishing hospitals and schools through the colonial period. The order was suppressed in 1820 and restored by a Holy See decree dated January 16, 1984, and by 2007 its community numbered only 17 members, with its current headquarters in La Laguna, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/