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ALSACE the two institutions were respectively closed, by Ober-President Möller, on the 24th of June and the 17th of July, 1874. They have since been reopened (the one at Zillisheim on the 20th of April, 1880; the one at Strasburg on the 5th of April, 1883), and are now known as "episcopal gymnasia." Both institutions follow the curriculum of the higher government schools under the supervision of the highest educational council of Alsace-Lorraine. The teachers are appointed by the bishop, subject to the approval of the council of education, and must have passed an examination pro facultate docendi before the State commission. Both have the right to grant the certificates required to be admitted to the one-year military service as volunteers, to such of their students as have successfully completed their "lower second" class, that is to say, a six-years' high school course. In both seminaries the final examinations of the students of the graduating class are conducted by the class-instructors under the supervision of the State school commission. They enjoy, therefore the same rights as the State gymnasia. The seminaries are maintained by the bishop from fees amounting to $20 (80 marks) yearly from scholars in the preparatory classes (without Latin); and $30 (120 marks) for those of the gymnasium classes, as also from alms received during Lent. The Bishop of Strasburg, in virtue of extraordinary powers, grants an individual dispensation from abstinence during Lent and on all the fast days during the year, except Good Friday, "on the express condition that all who avail themselves of it shall make a special offering on behalf of diocesan institutions." These alms amounted to $12,863 (51,453 marks) for the year 1902–3; and $13,455 (53,818 marks) for the year 1903–4. During the school year 1904–5 thirty-nine teachers lectured at the Episcopal Gymnasium in Strasburg, and twenty-one at Zillisheim, to 565 and 271 scholars respectively. The Episcopal Gymnasium in the Diocese of Metz, at Montigny, enjoys all the rights of a State gymnasium, which are not possessed by the higher episcopal school at Bitsch or by the cathedral school of St. Arnulf at Metz.

.—Six church collections have been made obligatory by the Bishop of Strasburg: on the Sunday after the Epiphany, for the African missions; on Good Friday, for the Christians of the East; at Easter and Pentecost, for the Peter's Pence; on the feast of the consecration of a church, for the abolition of alternate, or common, use of church edifices by Catholics and non-Catholics; on the Sunday after the feast of St. Odilia, for the blind asylum at Still. In addition to these, collections are made for the work of the Childhood of Jesus (the ransom of heathen children); for the spread of the Faith; for home missions (Society of St. Francis de Sales); and for the assistance of Catholic students. Moreover, since State pensions for retired priests are not sufficient, the priests of the Diocese of Strasburg have established a supplementary fund which amounted in 1902 to $4,096 (16,384 marks) in 1903, to $6079 (24,315 marks) to $4,667 (18,667 marks) in 1904, and to $5,271 (21,085 marks) in 1905.

.—An ordinance, dated 18 April, 1871, and issued by Count von Bismarck-Bohlen, Governor-General of Alsace, obliges every child, on reaching the age of six, to attend either a public or a private school, unless equivalent provision shall be made in the family itself. School attendance continues to be obligatory until the final examination, which, for boys, takes place at the age of fourteen, for girls at thirteen. The law of 12 February placed all lower and higher education under the supervision and control of the State authorities. "In all schools," so runs the ordinance of the Imperial Statthalter (Governor), dated 16 November, 1887 "religion, morality, respect for the State and the laws shall be inculcated by means of teaching and education." The normal curriculum of elementary schools comprises religion, German, arithmetic, geometry, drawing, history, geography, natural history, natural science, singing, carpentry, and feminine handicrafts. The following are charged with the local supervision of each elementary school: the burgomaster, the Catholic priest, the Protestant pastor, the delegate of the Jewish religion and, in parishes of more than 2,000 souls, one or more residents appointed thereto by the President of the district. The clergy are especially charged with the supervision of the religious instruction given by the teachers in the schools; they have, besides, the right of entering the schools at all times. The greater number of public elementary schools are denominational. Most of the masters are laymen; most of the mistresses, sisters of some teaching order. These communities, whose members teach in public, State, and municipal schools, also maintain private elementary, intermediate, and higher girls' schools.

.—Alsace-Lorraine is rich in important art monuments, the two principal being the world-famous minster of Strasburg and the cathedral of Metz. The first was begun in 1015, and finished in July, 1439, and whereas the cathedral at Cologne presents an example of one style Gothic work, the minster at Strasburg bears traces of many styles. The crypt is early Romanesque, the choir and part of the transept late Romanesque, the nave and southern portion show the highest triumph of Gothic architecture. It is 110 metres (361 feet) long, and 47 metres (154 feet) wide; the tower is 142 metres (466 feet) high. The Gothic cathedral of Metz was begun under Bishop Conrad von Scharfenberg (1212–20), but was not consecrated until 1546. In the eighteenth century an Italian porch was built at the west end, but was replaced at the beginning of the twentieth century by one corresponding to the style of the building itself. The cathedral is 122 metres (400 feet) long, 30 metres (98.4 feet) wide in the nave, and 47 metres (154 feet) at the transepts. The two towers are unfinished. The oldest church in Strasburg is the Romanesque church of St. Stephen, said to have been built in the twelfth century; the oldest in Alsace, St Peter's collegiate church at Avolsheim, which dates to the eleventh.

.—In October, 1899, a charity organization was founded at Strasburg, in connection with the Charity Society for Catholic Germany (headquarters at Freiburg im Breisgau). It has central offices at Paris and Nancy, and is connected with the Œuvre Internationale de la protection de la jeune fille of Switzerland. This organization is the centre of all the Catholic benevolent societies and institutions of Alsace-Lorraine. Its object is to make inquiries into actual and prospective causes of destitution, and to take special steps for their amelioration, to impart information relating to the poor, and to charitable institutions and undertakings, and to disseminate the true principles of Christian charity by means of lectures and pamphlets. The sphere of these charitable societies includes:—(1) Crêches for infants, with protection and care of school children of both sexes during play hours. Of these there are two at Colmar, two at Muelhausen, one at Rappoltsweiler, five at Strasburg, and one at Thann.—(2) Orphanages and training schools for orphan, deserted, or unprotected children; 22 establishments with 3,000 children.—(3) Institutions for the reform of fallen women or of those exposed to moral dangers; one at Muelhausen and two at Strasburg.—(4) The sheltering of unprotected or orphan children, one society at Colmar, three at Strasburg.—(5) The providing of holiday colonies for delicate children, and the fitting out of poor children on special