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 DELATES

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OBLATES

III. Recruiting is made l)y means of junior- ates, novitiates, and scholasticates. (a) Juniorales or Apostolic Schools. — The first establishment of this de- scription was founded in 1841 bj' the Oblates of Notre Dame des Lumieres near Avignon, and their example, soon followed by the Jesuit Fathers at Avignon, be- came widely adopted in France. The congregation has at present thirteen juniorates situated: at Ottawa, Buffalo, San Antonio (Texas), St. Boniface (Mani- toba) and Strathcona (Alberta) in the new world; St. Charles (Holland), Waereghem (Belgium), Sancta Maria a Vico and Naples (Italy), Urmieta (Spain), and Belcamp Hall (Ireland) in Europe; Colombo and .Jaffna in the Island of Ceylon, (b) Noviliales are fed from thi' juniorates, and also from colleges, semi- naries, and s;>'ninasia. They are at present thirteen ill number and situateil at Lachine (Canada), Tewks- burv (Massachusi^tlsl, San Antonio (Texas), St. Charles (.Maiiif .>lia i. St. ( icrlaeh, Ililnfeld, and Maria Engelport (.tiernianyj, Niewenhove (Belgium), LeBes- tin (Luxemburg), St. Pierre d'Aoste (Italy), Urmieta (Spain), Stillorgan (Ireland), and Colombo (Ceylon), (c) Scholasticates receive novices who have been ad- mitted to temporal vows at the end of a year's proba- tion. The first scholasticate of the congregation was dedicated to the Sacred Heart at Montolivet, Mar- seilles, in 1857; it was transferred to Autun in 1861, to Dublin in 1880, to St. Francis (Holland) in 1889, and to Liege in 1891. The ten establishments at present occupied are situated at Ottawa, Tewksbury, San Antonio, Rome, Liege, Hiinfeld, Stillorgan, Turin, and Colombo (2).

IV. Ends and Means. — The congregation was formed to repair the havoc caused by the French Rev- olution, and its very existence so soon afterwards was a sign of religious revival. Its multiple ends may thus be divided: (a) Primary: (1) To revive the spirit of faith among rural and industrial populations by means of missions and retreats, in which devotion to the Sacred Heart and to Mary Immaculate is recom- mended as a supernatural means of regeneration. "He hath sent me to preach the Gospel to the poor", has been adopted as the device of the congregation.

(2) Care of young men's societies. Catholic clubs, etc.

(3) Formation of clergy in seminaries, (b) Secondary or Derived. — To adapt itself to the different circum- stances arising from its rapid development in new countries, the congregation has necessarily extended its sphere of action to parochial organization, to the direction of industrial or reformatory schools, of estab- lishments of secondary education in its principal cen- tres, and of higher institutions of learning, such as the University of Ottawa (see Ottawa, University of).

V. Promine.nt Members, Past and Present. — (a) Superior Generals: Mgr de Mazenod (1816); Very Rev. J. Fabre (1861); L. SouUier (1893); C. Augier (1898); A. Lavillardiere (1906); Mgr A. Dontenwill (1908). (b) Oblate Bishops: (1) Deceased: de Maz- enod, Bishop of Marseilles; Guibert (1802-86), Cardi- nal Archbishop of Paris; Semeria (1813-68), Vicar Apostolic of Jaffna; Guigues (1805-74), first Bishop of Ottawa; Allard (1806-89), first Vicar Apostolic of Natal; Faraud (1823-90), first Vicar Apostolic of Athabaska-Mackenzie; D'Herbomez (1822-90), first Vicar Apostolic of British Columbia; Boiijean (1823- 92), first Archbishop of Colombo; Tache (1823-94), first Archbishop of St. Boniface; Balain (1828-1905), Archbishop of Auch; M61izan (1844-1905), Arch- bishop of Colombo; Grandin (1829-1902), first Bishop of St. Albert; Glut (1832-1903), Auxiliary Bishop of Athabaska-Mackenzie; Jolivet (1826-1903), Vicar Apostolic of Natal; Durieu (1830-99), first Bishop of New Westminster; Anthony Gaughren (1849-1901), Vicar Apostolic of Orange River Colony; (2) Living: Dontenwill, Augustin, titular Archbishop of Ptole- mais, and actual superior general; Langevin, Arch- bishop of St. Boniface (consecrated 1895); Coudert,

Archbishop of Colombo (1898); Grouard, Vicar Apos- tohc of Athabaska (1891); Pascal, Bishop of Prince Albert (1891); Joulain, Bishop of Jaffna (1893) ; Legal, Bishop of St. Albert (1897); Breynat, Vicar Apostolic of Mackenzie (1902) ; Matthew Gaughren, Vicar Apos- tolic of Orange River Colony (1902); Delalle, Vicar Apostohc of Natal (1904); JNliller, Vicar Apostolic of Transvaal (1904); Joussard, Coadjutor of Athabaska (1909); Cenez, Vicar Apostolic of Basutoland (1909); Fallon, Bishop of London, Ontario (1910); Charlebois, first Vicar Apostolic of Keewatin, Canada (1910).

VI. Principal Undertakings. — (a) General. (1) In canonically constituted countries a parish church or public chapel is attached to each establishment of Oblates. The parishes are all imividfil with .schools, while many have colleges or ac-a<l('iiiies and a hu.siiital. Several of the parochial residences (e. g., Buffalo, Montreal, Quebec, etc.) serve as centres for mission- aries who assist the parochial clergy by giving retreats or missions and taking temporary charge of parishes. (2) In new or missionary countries, the posts are con- sidered as fixed residences from which the missionaries radiate to surrounding fields of action (e. g., Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta). Each of these centres pos- sesses fully equipped schools, whilst many have con- vents, boarding schools, and hospitals. Instruction is given in English, French, or native tongues by re- ligious communities or by the fathers and brothers themselves. Indigenous mission work is carried on by the periodical recurrence of missions or retreats, and the regular instructions of catechists. The printing press is much used, and the congregation has pub- lished complete dictionaries and other works in the native idioms among which it labours.

(b) Special. — (1) Canada. — Until recent years the evangelization of the Canadian West and of British Columbia was the almost exclusive work of the Oblate Fathers, as that of the extreme north still is. Cathe- drals, churches, and colleges were built by them, and often handed over to secular clergy or to other reli- gious communities (as in the case of the St. Boniface College, which is at present flourishing under the di- rection of the Society of Jesus). The Archiepiscopal See of St. Boniface since 1853, and the episcopal Sees of St. Albert, Prince Albert, with the Vicariates of Atha- baska and Mackenzie since their foundation, have been, and are still occupied by Oblates. That of New Westminster ceased to be so in 1908. The Diocese of Ottawa had an Oblate as first bishop, and owes the foundation of most of its parishes and institutions to members of the congregation, who have also founded a number of the centres in the new Vicariates of Temis- kaming and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as well as in the Diocese of Chicoutimi. Among the recent labours of the Oblates in the West a special iiK'iitiiin inu.st be given to the religious organization of Gcrnums, Poles, and Ruthenians. The new Vicariate of Keewatin (1910) is entrusted to an Oblate bishop, whose mission- aries are devoted to the regeneration of nomadic In- dian tribes. (2) South Africa. — The Oblates have founded and occupy the four vicariates Apostolic of Natal, Orange River, Basutoland' and Transvaal, as also the Prefecture .\postolic of Cimbebasia. Its members served as military chaplains on both sides during the Boer war. (3) Asia. — The immense Dio- ceses of Colombo and Jaffna, with their flourishing colleges and missions, are the achievement of the en- terprising zeal of Oblate Fathers under Mgr Boiijean, O.M.I. (4) Western Au.stralia. A mis.sionary vicar- iate was founded from the British Province in 1894, and is actively engaged in parochial and reformatory work.

VII. Establishments of Education and Forma- tion. — (a) For the Congregation. (1) Scholasticates affording a course of two years in philosophy and so- cial science (three years in Rome), and of four years in theology and sacred sciences according to the spirit