The Alexian Brothers tradition: Taking their name from Saint Alexius, the son of a wealthy Roman senator, who gave up a life of luxury to serve the poor, the Congregation of Alexian Brothers received official status by papal decree in 1458. Their ministry to the United States began in 1866, when Brother Bonaventure Thelen, C.F.A., arrived in New York from Germany. He later founded a hospital in a wood frame house in Chicago where he carried in his arms the hospital's first patient on June 12, 1866. That summer, Alexian Brothers in Chicago cared for victims of a cholera epidemic. They soon earned a reputation for compassion and professional expertise, a reputation that endures to this day.