Last
revised April 15th,
2001 Msgr.
Victor Scheppers (25/04/1802 - 07/03/1877) was the founder
of the "Congregation of the Brothers of Scheppers".Social
circumstances in the 19th century were very harsh. The
population was poor
and exploited by the governing classes: child
labour,
12 to 14 hours work per day, no education, no social
insurance against illness or death. Victor
Scheppers wanted to do something about this. Born in
Mechelen on 25 April 1802, the youngest of four children of
a wealthy family of landowners. His father was a brewer.
Victor went to school in Mechelen, later in Aalst where he
finished high school. After
his mother and sisters died in 1813, 1815, and 1817 his
brother took over the brewery. Victor stayed with his father
and like all young men of his class enjoyed life and he
hadn't set a real goal for his life. However, on a trip to
Paris visiting the Boetkapel (Penance Chapel) young Victor
is struck by a powerful force, which Christians call Grace
(Mercy). At 23 Victor decides to become a priest. In
1832 he is ordained and started gathering children in his
father's castle "Tivoli" in his parental home "In de Swaen"
(In the Swan) at the Great Market, and later in a house in
the Begijnenstraat that his father had bought for him for
that purpose. He taught the children to read and write. In
1835 he also opened a noonschool (school where courses were
taught at noon) for the children who already went working.
And also a Sunday school for boys of 17/18 years old in de
Begijnenstraat. Until
then in most schools in those times tuition had to be paid,
so children from the lower classes didn't receive any
education. His initatives were very successul. People
understood that he worked to improve their conditions of
life. In 1845 he started a free dayschool in the convent on
the Melaan in Mechelen. In 1851 he started a boarding school
on the Melaan. It became the renown Scheppersinstituut. By
1871 it counted 300 boarders. All his schools worked to give
a Christian education and sound instruction. They tried to
create a relaxed atmosphere with a feeling of mutual trust,
still known as "The spirit of Scheppers". The religious
authorities were very satisfied with Victor Scheppers and
promoted him to Honorary Canon. At
that time, as always, poverty led to family abuse,
alcoholism, promiscuity, criminality, youth delinquency and
despair. Prisons were full. Canon Scheppers visited the
prison in Vilvoorde and decided to start a Congregation
whose members would live with the prisoners. He also wanted
to train the Brothers in education and health care. In 1839
the Cardinal consecrated Scheppers' first convent, an old
convent at the Melaan which Sceppers used his inheritance to
buy. It later became the seat of a new Congregation, a
flourishing school and still remains the seat of the
Schepperscollege in Mechelen. Ïn
1856 Canon Scheppers is appointed Secret Chamberlain to His
Excelleny Pope Pius IX with the title of Monseigneur and
died in 1877. Since the time of his death the Congregation
spread with foundations in Canada, Argentina, Uruguay,
Burundi, Ruanda, The Netherlands and Spain.
Where
does the name Scheppers in Scheppercollege come from?
(By Claire Carbonez)