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 SCHOOLS

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SCHOOLS

religious in an order devoted to the foreign missions. As regards parents the conditions were: (a) that they should give their consent to their son's entering the school and a written agreement not to oppose his vocation nor require his return home during the school vacations; (b) that they should engage to receive the pupil back if the superiors of the school judged it advisable for him to devote himself to a secular calling. The course of studies in the apostolic school comprised a thorough training in the Latin and Greek classics, in modern languages, and in mathematics, so as to prepare the pupil to take up philosophy in an ecclesiastical seminarj' or to enter the novitiate of a religious order. The residence of the scholars was near one of the colleges of the Society of Jesus. The pupils attended classes along with the students of the college, and thus had the advantage of emulation and competition with others while living under ecclesiastical discipline in their own house. For the material support of the school Father Foresta depended partly on the voluntarj-- fees paid by the parents of the pupils, according to their means, and partly, or rather chiefly, on the charitable contributions of the faithful, who had come to understand that it is a greater work of piety to educate a priest than to build a church.

The good work commenced by Alberic de Foresta in 1865 prospered. In 1868 similar apostolic schools were established at Amiens and Turin; in 1869 one was opened at Poitiers, in 1871 at Turnhout in Bel- gium and at New Orleans, in 1873 at Bordeaux, in 1874 at Tananarive, in 1877 at Dole and at Monaco, and in 1879 at Boulogne-sur-Mer. Pius IX, in a Brief dated 12 April, 1867, blessed the work of the apostolic schools, and in Briefs dated 30 June, 1870, and 15 May, 1877, repeated his approval and be- stowed indulgences on them and on those who pro- moted them. Anticlerical legislation in France since 1880 has been an obstacle to the work. But like the Apostles, who when persecuted in one city fled to another, the superiors of these schools have not abandoned their pious enterprise. The apostohc school of Avignon has been several times transferred from one place to another, and is now located at Eremo Lanzo, in the neighbourhood of Turin, where it has about 72 pupils. The school at Bordeaux has been transferred to Vitoria in Spain, where it carries on its work with fifty pupils. The Amiens apostolic school has been transferred to Littlehamp- ton, in England, and thence to Thicu, in the Diocese of Tournai, Belgium. The school at Poitiers still exi.sts. In 1881 the number of students in the schools founded by Father de Foresta amounted to between four hundred and five hundred, and they had already given about five hundred missioners to the Church. When the schools of Avignon, Amiens, Tumhoui, Poitiers, and Bordeaux heS been only about thirty years in existence they had already educated about one thousand missionaries. The Bordeaux school alone has up to 1911 produced two hundred and fifty priests, secular and regular.

Besides the apostolic schools on the Continent, the Jesuit Fathers possess a flourishing apostolic school at Mungret, near Limerick, in Ireland. The Mungret apostolic school owes its origin to the Rev. William Ilonan, S.J. In the wjursc of his missionary' work throughout Ireland Father Ronan had met many boys who gave signs of an ecclesiastical vocation, but who, from lack of means or other causes, were unable to attain the object of their aspirations. Father Ronan was eventually appointed rector of the Jesuit college at Limerick, anrl he then conceived the idea of opening an apost/olic school in cx)nnexion with that establishment. On 24 September, 1880, a commenwment was ma/le with eight pupils. Two years later the Jc-suit Fathers acquired possession of the government agricultural college, built on the

site of the famous monastic school of Mungret, which dated from the days of St. Patrick and had been confiscated at the Reformation. There, under the title of Mungret College, the apostolic school was established, and a new department opened for lay students. Father Ronan, its first rector, visited the United States in 1884 and had an opportunity of explaining to several members of the American hier- archy the object of his apostolic school. He obtained permission to appeal to the faithful for means to enlarge the school buildings and to found burses. His appeals met with a liberal response. On his return to Ireland he enlarged the buildings of Mungret College and founded several burses for the edu(uition of students. In 191 1 the number of apostoUc scholars in the college was seventy-three.

The course of studies extends over a period of about seven years, and on leaving the school the scholars are qualified to enter a theological seminary, or the novitiate of a religious order. The scholars attend the classes of the Jesuit college at Mungret. The efficiency of the teaching is attested by the success which the pupils have obtained in the Inter- mediate examinations, and in those of the (late) Royal University of Ireland. In a list of one hundred and sixty-three former pupils given in the "Mun- gret Apostolic Record", 1910, there arc to be found one M.A., sLxty B.A.'s, and nine who in their higher theological studies obtained the degree of Doctor of Theology. In 1910 the number of pupils who left the school to go on to higher ecclesiastical studies was twelve. The average yearly number since 1886 has been eight. The Mungret students are permitted vacations at their homes and are at full liberty to study for the secular mission in a foreign missionary countr}% or to enter a religious order having charge, of foreign missions. The list of past pupils above referred to shows how this liberty is exercised: out of one hundred and sixty three pupils, forty-nine entered the Society of Jesus, seven became Redemp- torists, 4 Vinccntians, 2 Passionists, 2 Dominicans, 1 a Discalced Carmelite; all the others, 98 in number, entered the ranks of the secular clergy. The Mun- gret apostolic scholars are to be found in China, India, the Philippine Islands, Africa, Australia, and America. In the United States a Union of Mungret Apostolic Alumni was formed in 1910. Means for the support of the school are derived partly from pay- ments made by the parents of the pupils, and partly from endowments and subscriptions made by pious benefactors. Benefactors who make a donation of £700 ($3500), a sum sufficient to found a burse in perpetuity, are styled founders. Those who give £180 (.$900), a sum sufficient for the support of a student for six years, are called protectors, while those who give £1 (.$5) annually are called subscribers. All share in the indulgences granted by the Holy See to those who promote apostolic schools; and in the weekly Masses and ]:)rayers offered for benefactors, as well as in the monthly Mass which all graduates of the school who become priests are pledged to celebrate during life for their benefactors.

The example set by Father do F'oresta has found many imitators. Most religious orders and congre- gations have established apostolic schools for the recruitment of their own ranks or for the foreign missions. Amongst them may be mentioned the Vincentians, the Salesians, the Fathers of the Holy Ghost, the Missionaries of St. .Joseph's, Mill Hill, the White Fathers, the African Missionaries of Lyons, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Mission- aries of Mont-St-Michcl, the Dominicans, Francis- cans, and Redemptorists. The Feathers of the Con- gregation of the Mission have several flourishing apostolic schools: at Dax in France, with 112 pupils; Wernhoutsburg in Holland, 150; Ingelmunster in Belgium, transferred in 1904 from Loos near Lille,-