Together As Brothers: A History of the Brother of St. Pius X. This item is unavailable.Together As Brothers: A History of the Brother of St. Pius X

In 1952, a young man from St. Martin packed his bags and left his family farm after reading an ad in the local Catholic newspaper that was recruiting members for a new diocesan order in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis. — the Brothers of St. Pius X. That young man was Brother Michael Mandernach, who is now the last living member of the religious congregation established by Bishop John Patrick Treacy. The monastery of the Brothers of St. Pius X was located in De Soto, Wis., and was little more than two old houses and a barn on 160 acres of bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. Brother Michael, 23, and four other men — ages 18 and 19 — were the first to arrive. The order, named for St. Pius X’s devotion to the Eucharist and to peace, adopted the saint’s motto “to restore all things in Christ” as their community ideal.