Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/155

 NOTRE DAME

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NOTRE DAME

Canonists have variously classified the legal effects of notoriety, especially in matters of procedure; but, u!timat('I.\', they may all be reduced to one: the judge, and in general the person in authority, holding what is notorious lo l)c certain and proved, requires no further information, and tlicrefore, both may and ought to refrain from any juciicial inquiry, proof, or formalities, which would otiierwise be necessary. For these in- quiries and formalities having as their object to enlighten the judge, are useless when the fact is notorious. Such is the true meaning of the axiom that in notorious matters the judge need not follow the judicial procedure (cf. can. 14 and 16, C. ii, q. 1; cap. 7 and 10, ''Decohab. cleric", lib. Ill, tit. ii; cap. 3, "De testib. cogend.", lib. II, tit. .xxi). None of the essential solemnities of the procedure should ever be omitted. The most interesting application of the ef- fect of notoriety in criminal matters is in connexion with the jlngrans deliclus, when the accused is caught in the criminal act, in which case the judge is dis- penses! I'lMin l]\r iirii--.il\ iif :iii\ iH(|uiry.

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A. BOUDINHON.

Notre Dame, Congregations of. — I. — Congre- G.\Tiox OF XoTRE D.\ME DE MoNTRE.^L. — Marguerite Bourgeoys, the foundress, was born at Troyes, France, 17 April, 1620. She was the third child of Abraham Bourgeois, a merchant, and Guillemette Garnier, his wife. In 1653 Paul Chomody de Maisonneuve, the founder of Ville Marie (Montreal), visited Troyes, and invited her to go to Canada to teach; she set out in June of that year, arrived at Ville Marie, and devoted herself to every form of works of mercy. She opened her first school on 30 April, 16.57, but soon had to return to France for recruits, where four companions joined her. A boarding school and an industrial school were opened and sodalities were founded. In 1670 the foundress went back to France and returned in 1672 with letters from King Louis XIV and also with six new com- panions. In 1675 she built a chapel dedicated to Notre Dame de Bon Secours. To insure greater free- dom of action Mother Bourgeoys founded an un- cloistered community, its members bound only by simple vows. They had chosen 2 July, as their pat- ronal feast-day. Modelling their lives on that of Our Lady after the Ascension of Our Lord, they aided the pastors in the various parishes where convents of the order had been established, by instructing children.

Although the community had received the approba- tion of the Bishop of Quebec, the foundress became very desirous of having the conditions of non-enclosure and simple vows embodied in a rule. To confer with the bishop, who was then in France, she undertook a third journey to Europe. She returned the next year, and resisted the many attempts made in the next few years to merge the new order in that of the Ursulines, or otherwise to change its original character. In 1683 a mission on Mount Royal was opened for the instruc- tion of Indian girls. This mission, under the auspices of the priests of St. Sulpice, was removed in 1701 to Sault au Recollet, and in 1720 to the Lake of Two Mountains. It .still exists. The two towers still standing on the grounds of Montreal College were part of a stone fort built to protect the colony from the attacks of their enemies; they were expressly erected for the sisters of that mission: one for their residence, the other for their classes.

The sisters continued their labours in the schools of Ville Marie, and also prepared a number of young women as Christian tcacljcrs. Houses were opened at Pointe-aux-Trenililis, ncnr Montreal, at Lachine, at Champlain and Chateau Richer. In 16S5 a mission was established at Sainte Famille on the Island of Or- leans and was so successful that Mgr de St. Vallier,

Bishop of Quebec, invited the sisters to open houses in that settlement, which was done. In 1689 he de- sired to confer with Mother Bourgeoys in regard to a project of foundation. Though sixty-nine years of age, she set out at once on the long and perilous jour- ney on foot to Quebec, and had to suffer all the incon- veniences of an April thaw. Acceding to the demands of the bishop for the new foundation, she had the double consolation of obedience to her superior, and of keeping her sisters in their true vocation when, only four years later, the bishop himself became convinced that such was necessary. Mother Bourgeoys asked repeatedly to be discharged from the superiorship, but not until 1693 did the bishop accede to her petition. Eventually on 24 June, 1698, the rule and constitution of the congregation, based upon those which the foundress had gathered from various sources, were formally accepted by the members. The next day they made their vows. The superior at the time was Mother of the Assumption (Barbier). Mother Bour- geoys devoted the remainder of her life to the prepara- tion of points of advice for the guidance of her sister- hood. She died on 12 January, 1700. On 7 Dec, 1878, she was declared venerable. The proclamation of the heroicity of the virtues of the \'enerable Mar- guerite Bourgeoys was officially made in Rome, 19 June, 1910. In 1701 the community numbered fifty- four members. The nuns were self-supporting and, on this consideration, the number of subjects was not limited by the French Government, as was the case with all the other existing communities. The con- flagration which ravaged Montreal in 1768 destroyed the mother-house, which had been erected eighty- five years before. The chapel of Bon Secours, built by Mother Bourgeoys, was destroyed by fire in 1754, and rebuilt by the Seminary of St. Sulpice in 1771.

During the latter half of the nineteenth century, missions were established in various parishes of the Provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and in the United States; also, many new academies and schools were opened in the city of Montreal. The normal school in Montreal, under the direction of the congregation, begun in 1899, has worthily realized the hopes founded upon it. Of its three hundred and eighteen graduates, authorized to teach in the schools of Quebec, one hundred and eighty-four are actually employed there. The house, built after the fire of 1768, was demolished in 1844 to give place to a larger building. A still more commodious one was erected in 1880. This was burned down in 1893, obliging the community to re- turn to the house on St. Jean-Baptiste Street. A new building was erected on Sherbrooke Street, and here the Sisters lia\-e been installed since 1908. The Notre Dame Ladies' College was inaugurated in 1908. To- day the institute, whose rules have been definitively ap- proved by the Holy See, counts 131 convents in 21 dioceses, 1479 professed sisters, over 200 novices, 36 postulants, and upwards of 35,000 pupils.

The school system of the Congregation of Notre Dame de Montreal always comprised day-schools and boarding-schools. The pioneers of Canada had to clear the forest, to cultivate the land, and to prepare homes for their families. They were all of an intelli- gent class of farmers and artisans, who felt that a Christian education was the best legacy they could leave their children; therefore they seized the opportu- nity afforded them by the nascent Congregation of Notre Dame, to place their daughters in boarding- schools. The work, inaugurated in Canada, led to de- mands for houses of the congregation in many totally English parishes of the LTnited States.

The schools of the Congregation of Notre Dame everywhere give instruction in all fundamental branches. The real advantages developed by the sys- tematic study of psychology~and pedagogy have been fully turned to account. The system begins with the