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cis; 4 houses of the Sisters of Charity; 7 houses of the Sisters of Our Lady; 1 house of the Poor Franciscan nuns of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; 1 house of the Grey Nuns of St. Ehzabeth; in all there are 20 houses of female congregations. The sisters nurse the sicli, or teach in their own schools. Until 1855 the Catholic schools were under church control.

The law of 1855 secularized the entire educational system including the secondary schools. The Catho- lic educational system and the Protestant system are each under a separate school board. The episcopal "Offizial" is president of the Catholic Church board which controls the Catholic " Gymnasium " at Vechta, the high school at Cloppenburg, the seminary for pub- lic school teachers at Vechta, and all Catholic public schools. On 4 Feb., 1910, a new educational law went into effect. It does away with the hitherto existing clerical superintendence of public schools. Only the religious instruction is supervised by the clergyman, who is a member of the school board. If there are more than twenty-five Catholic children in a community which has only a Lutheran school, a separate Catlio- lic school must be established by the parish, should the parents request it.

The ancient Diocese of Oldenburg has no connex- ion with the country of Oldenburg, or with its princi- pal city. The country of Oldenburg was never sub- ject to the ecclesiastical jursidiction of the Diocese of Oldenburg. The Bishopric of Oldenburg was founded by the German Emperor Otto I about 950, and com- prised the present territory of Holstein. The small town of Oldenburg (also called Aldenburg in the Mid- dle Ages), near the coast of the Baltic Sea, which is still in existence, was the ancient seat of the bishop. The Diocese of Oldenburg was suffragan to the Archdio- cese of Bremen; during the great revolt of the Slavic peoples in 1066, it ceased to exist, but was re-estab- lished in 1149 as the See of St. Vicelin, a missionary among the Slavs. As early as 1163, the seat of the bishopric was transferred to Liibeck, the famous Hanse city, by the Saxon Dulce Henry the Lion.

Von Halem, Geschichte von Oldenburg (3 vols., Oldenburg, 1794-96); Runde. Otdenburger Chronik. (3rd ed., Oldenburg, 1863) ; Niemann, Das otdenburgische MUnsterland in seiner ge- schichtlichen Enlwicklung (2 vols., Oldenburg, 1889-91) ; Schaue.n- BURG. Hundert Jahre oldenburgischer Kirchengeschichte 1573-1667 (3 vols., Oldenburg, 1895-1900), Protestant; Willoh, Geschichte der Kath. Pfarreien im Herzogtum Oldenburg (5 vols., Cologne, 1898-99) ; Pleitner, Oldenburg im 19. Jahrhundert (2 vols., Olden- burg, 1899-1900) ; Idem, Oldenburgisches Quellenbuch (Oldenburg, 1903); Sello, Alt-Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1903).

Herman Sacher.

Old Hall (St. Edmund's College), near Ware, Hertfordshire, England, founded in 1793 after the fall of the English College, Douai, during the French revo- lution, to carry on for the south of England the same work of training priests for the English mission, and of affording a Catholic education to lay students. It was the seminary for the "London District" until 1850, when it became the joint property of the Sees of Westminster and Southwark. For many years past it has belonged exclusively to the Archbishops of West- minster. The foundation took place on 16 November, 1793, the feast of St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canter- bury, when Bishop Douglass reassembled at Old Hall four of the Douai students, and as he states in his diary "commenced studies or established the new col- lege there, a substitute for Douai." He chose Old Hall for this purpose because there was already exist- ing there a Catholic school belonging to the vicars Apostolic, founded in 1749 at Standon Lordship in the same county and removed in 1769 to Old Hall, pur- chased by Bishop Talbot. A timely legacy of ten thousand pounds from John Sone, a Catholic, enabled Bishop Douglass to build a college, blessed by him on 29 September, 1799. A chapel and refectory were added in 1805 by his successor, Bishop Poynter, who succeeded Dr. Stapleton as president in 1801. The

college prospered, particularly under the rule of Thomas Griffiths (1818-34), afterwards Vicar Aposto- lic of London. He built a larger chapel, designed in the Gothic style by Augustus Welby Pugin and re- markable for the beautiful rood-screen, but he did not live to see the opening of it in 1853 when it was conse- crated by Cardinal Wiseman, whose attempts to place the college under the direction of the Oblates of St. Charles led to serious troubles. Connected with these was the appointment of Dr. Herbert Vaughan (Car- dinal Archbishop of Westminster) as vice-president of the college (1855-61). After the death of Cardinal Wiseman, Archbishop Manning decided to remove the theological students to London, and from 1869 the college was conducted simply as a school for boys; but in 1905 Archbishop Bourne decided to send back the theological students. There is now accommodation for 250 students; the college grounds cover 400 acres. The chapel contains a relic of St. Edmund, and the museum many interesting relics of the English Col- lege, Douai, and of the penal days. Two ecclesiastical councils have been held at the college, the synod of the vicars Apostolic in 1803 and the Fourth Provincial Council of Westminster in 1873.

B. Ward, Ilist. of St. Edmund's College, Old Hall (London, 1893); Idem, Historical Account of St. Edmund's College Chapel (London, 1903); Dotle, A Brief Outline of the Hist, of Old Hall (London, 1891): Sermons preached in St. Edmund's College Chapel on various occasions (London, 1904); Burton, Catalogue of Early- printed Books in the Libraries at Old Hall (Ware, 1902) ; B. Ward, Menology of St. Edmund's College, Old Hall (London, 1909) ; W. Ward, Life and Times of Cardinal Wiseman (London, 1897) ; PuRCELL, Life of Cardinal Manning (London, 1896); Cox, Life of Cardinal Vaughan (London, 1910); B. Ward, The Dawn of the Catholic Revival (London, 1909); The Edmundian (1893 — ).

Edwin Burton.

Oldham, Hugh, Bishop of Exeter, b. in Lancashire, either at Crumpsell or Oldham; d. 25 June, 1519. Having spent a short time at Oxford, he entered Queen's College, Cambridge. After his ordination he became chaplain to the Countess of Richmond and soon obtained many benefices, being appointed Dean of Wimborne and Archdeacon of Exeter. He also held prebends in the cathedrals of London, Lincoln, and York, and was rector of St. Mildred's, Bread Street, London. Henry VII honoured him by ap- pointing him as one of those who laid the foundation stone of his chapel in 1503. In the following year he was appointed Bishop of Exeter by a Bull of 27 Nov., 1 504. Though not a learned man, he encouraged learn- ing and in 1515 founded and endowed Manchester Grammar School. Through his influence over his friend Bishop Foxe of Winchester, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was founded for the secular clergy, instead of for the Winchester monks. He added six thousand marks to Foxe's foundation, where his por- trait is still honoured as that of a benefactor. From 1510 to 1513 he with other bishops was engaged in resisting what they considered the undue claims of Archbishop Warham with regard to the probate courts, and in the end won a considerable measure of success. Less fortunate was his litigation with the Abbot of Tavistock concerning their respective juris- dictions, during which he is said to have incurred ex- communication. Before the dispute was ended, he died, so that his burial had to be postponed until absolution was procured from Rome.

Fowler, Hist, of Corpus Christi College (Oxford, 1893); Cooper, AthencE Cantabrigienses (Cambridge, 1858-61); Godwin, Cata- logue of the Bishops of EngUind with their lives (London, 1601); Fowler in Diet. Nat. Biog., s. v.

Edwin Burton.

Oldoini, Augustino, historian and bibliographer, b. 6 Jan., 1612; d. at Perugia, 23 March, 1683. He came from La Spezzia, and entered the Society of Jesus 4 February, 1628. At the end of his novitiate he made the usual study of the humanities, philosophy and theology. For some time he taught classics at Perugia, and was then professor of moral philosophy