Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/630

 SCHOOLS

568

SCHOOLS

English is the mother tongue of only a little more than 9 percent of all the pupils attending t hese twenty- one institutions, the language of the remainder being French. The Classical course, including two years of philosophy, covers a period of eight years. It in-

Date

of Foun- dation

PUPILS

Prokessors

IXSTITL-TIOX

Clas- sical

Com- mer- cial

Priests

Laymen

Petit S^minaire de Quebec

1665 1767 1803 1809 1825

1829 1832 1846 1847 1848 1850 1853

1853 1860 1867 1873 1875 1893 1897 1910 1911

629 465 316 353 250

128 227 209 195 375 108 115

39 144 101

70 125

96 190

60

40

■56

247 55 113 180

182 490

98 161 106 1.59 274 161

68

■76

47 32 23 32 38

39 30 37 42 25 32 40

18 32 27 41 34 31 11

4

Montreal

Nicolet

St. Hyacinthe

1 2

Ste. Anne de La Poca-

ti^re

L'Assomption

Joliette

Stc. Marie, Montreal.

Kicaud

L^N'i"

2

Stc. Marie de Mon-

noir

Three Rivers

Rimouski

Vallevfield ....

Loyola

Nominigue

St. Jean

Totals for twenty-

one in-

4235

2420

622

32

eludes the study of Greek and Latin, to which educa- tors, in certain countries, are coming back after having tried to abolish it. The study of the dead lan- guages does not diminish the student's ardour for the two official languages of the country, French and English. Mount St. Louis, directed by the Christian Brothers, has a modern secondary course without Greek or Latin. They prepare young men princi- pally for the polytechnical schools. The classical col- leges affiliated with Laval University have the univer- sity course of studies and examinations. In 1910 a new school was opened for the hautes etudes cotmner- ciaies, and about twenty-six pupils have followed the courses. In 1911 the Legislature organized two tech- nical schools: one at Montreal, the other at Quebec.

In 190S the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame opened a college for young women. It is affili- ated with Laval University, and embraces English, French, and commercial sections. The regular course, leading to the degrees of B. L., B. 8., B..\., includes two, three, or four years' study according to the an- terior preparation of the student. About seventy- five follow the regular course. A large number at- tend the public lectures. The final examinations of the year are submitted to university professors. The staff of sixteen religious is assisted by professors.

C. Province of Nova Scotia. — Catholicism was in- troduced in the Province of Nova Scotia by the French with the first settlement of the country; but the first mention which we have of Catholic school education dates only from thirty years later, when the Recollects opened at Port-Royal a seminar\- for the instruct ion of French and Indian children. This Catholic teaching wii.s evidently continued, since we find a Capuchin Father writing, in lfK)2: "Emmanuel Le Borgne, gov- ernor of Acadia, has expelled fromPort-Royal^Iadame fie Brice d'Auxerre, superiore-ss of the School for the Abenaquis". About 1680 the vicar-general, Petit, says in a letter to his superior, Mgr Vallier, that he has with him a man who teaches the boys of Port-Royal. Mgr Vallier himself first sends a Sister of the Congre- gation of Notre Dame to teach the Indian aod I rencb

girls of Port-Royal, and a few years after, in 1686, he sends for Geoffroy, a Sulpician, "to continue the in- st ruction of yout h which so far has been so well looked after". In fact Geoffroy improved the school teach- ing and supervising. He also laid the foundation for the future coming of the Sisters of the Cross, who came in 1701, after the capture of Port -Royal by Phipps and the cession of Acadia to France in 1697. After the final taking of Acadia by the English it seems that Catholic schools were abolished, as we find Father Burke wTiting: "There is a great desire to establish a Catholic School [in Halifax]. The need is pressing. We would succeed if we could have repealed an in- famous law forbidding Catholic Schools". Through the zeal of the Catholic missionaries, however, Catho- lic education was not altogther neglected. In the western part of Nova Scotia, for example, we find a French priest, the Abbe Sigogne, urging his flock to send their children to school, organizing Sunday schools; thanks to his labours for the cause of educa- tion, there were in 1851, in the district of Clare alone, 17 schools attended by 422 pupils.

In 1864 the Law of Common Schools was passed in the Provincial Legislature of Nova Scotia. Since then there have been very few separate schools properly so called. Under this law the province is divided into distiicts called schools sections, which are adminis- tered by a board of three trustees elected by the rate- payers of the section. It is the duty of the trustees to engage teachers and to pay them out of the funds de- rived partly from taxes directly imposed upon the in- habitants of the section and partly from government grants. According to law, the teaching of the Cate- chism is prohibited during regular school hours; but the trustees may instruct teachers to give lessons in Catholic doctrine during one half-hour after class every day. Inspectors are appointed by the Council of Public Instruction to visit the schools and report upon t hem to the superintendent of educat ion. Some of these schools are under the direction of religious teaching communities as follows: In the Diocese of Halifax the Sisters of Charity have charge of nine such schools, four in the city of Halifax and five in the Acadian parishes of Meteghan, Church Point, Eal Brook, and West Pubnico, and the English-speaking parish of Prospect. In the Diocese of Antigonish the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame conduct seven of these schools, with 37 religious and 2281 pu- pils; the Sisters of Charity, 5 schools; the Daughters of Jesus, 2.

Besides these schools organized under the law, the Ladies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have a convent school at Halifax with 48 religious and 500 pupils; the Sisters of Charity, a separate school at Amherst and convents at Rockingliam, Meteghan, and Church Point; the Sisters of the Congregation, at New Glas- gow and Pictou; and the Filles de Jesus at Arichat and Cheticamp. These separate schools are supported by the Catholics of their respective towns. There are also three Catholic colleges for boys in the Province: St. Francis Xavier (English), at Antigonish, with 15 professors and 200 pupils; St. Anne, at Church Point, with 18 professors and 180 pupils (P>ench and Eng- lish), and St. Mary, at Halifax, with 7 professors and 80 pupils.

I). Province of New Brunswick. — As had been the ciiKC in Nova Scotia, the first Catholic schools in New Brunswick were opened by Catholic missiona- ries; and when the regrettable deportation took place, it could be said that a great number of Aca^lians wen- able at least to read their prayers and also the exer- cises relating to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. One can easily understand how these poor exiles re- turned to their country and more p.irticularly to New Brunswick. Their first care was undoubtedly to assure their very existence, as a great number of those who escaped deportation died of himger and