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 SCHOOLS

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SCHOOLS

with 60 pupils; Vienna, 50 pupils; Perry ville, Missouri, 48 pupils; Germantown, Pennsylvania, with 70 pupils. Of these the schools at Dax and at Wern- houtsburg may be taken as tjTJes. In 1864 there was founded at the birthplace of St. Vincent de Paul an establishment representing the various charitable works instituted by the saint. Out of that establish- ment there sprang a technical and a secondary' school. Some of the boys manifested a desire to enter the ecclesiastical state, and in 1871 an apostolic school was commenced with nine pupils. In a few years the number increased to 40, and in 1911 it amounted to 112, consisting of boys from various departments of France, together with two Spaniards, nine Portuguese, two Greeks, and two Algerians. The pupils present themselves of their own accord with the consent of their parents. An essential condition of admission is the desire to prepare for the ecclesiastical state. The pupils are free to choose to study for the foreign missions, or to return to their own dioceses. At the close of each year those who give no solid promise of an ecclesiastical vocation are dismis.sed. In the higher classes only those are retained who manifest a vocation for the Congregation of the Mission. About one in three of the pupils enters the congre- gation. The others become priests in their native dioceses, or enter religious communities, or return to secular life. The course of studies, comprising the classics, modern languages, and mathematics, is similar to that followed in the Catholic secondary schools of France, and ends with rhetoric, after which the puj)ils who have remained up to the highest class enter the novitiate of the Congregation of the Mission. The resources of the school are derived to some extent from payments made by the parents of the pupils, but chiefly from allocations granted by the superior general of the Congregation of the Mission. The past pupils of the school are to be found at present in the vicariates entrusted to the Congregation in China, Persia, Abyssinia, and Mada- gascar. The school at Wernhoutsburg was founded in 1882, and in object and organization resembles that at the Berceau de St- Vincent near Dax. The number of students in 1911 w'as 150. Besides instruction in the Classics and mathematics there are classes in French, Dutch, German, and English. From twelve to fifteen students annually enter the novi- tiates of the Congregation. The pension payable by the students is 300 francs (about $60) a year. Those who have no vocation for the Congregation of the Mission, but desire to complete their studies in the school, pay a pension of 500 francs ($100).

The Salesian Fathers, founded by Ven. Giovanni Melchior Bosco, possess several flourishing apostolic schools, such as those at Toumai in Belgium, at Nyon in Switzerland, at Le Catel in Guernsey. The object of the Salesian apostolic schools is to foster the ecclesiastical vocations of boys who on account of poverty are unable to enter the diocesan seminaries. The conditions of admission are good conduct and a desire and aptitude for the priesthood. The course of studies prepares them to enter a diocesan seminary, a foreign missionary college, or a religious order, in the choice of which they are left full liberty. The most important of the Salesian schools is that at 63 Boulevard Leopold, Toumai, Belgium, founded in 1895. The number of pupils in 1911 is 170, of whom 60 entered in 1910. The establishment has received encouragment from the cardinals of Mechlin, Co- logne, Ravenna, from the cardinals in France, and from more than fifty archbishops and bishops. The Salesian school in Guernsey has seventy pupils. There is also a preparatory Salesian school at Surrey House, Surrey Lane, Battersea, London.

The Fathers of the Holy Ghost have an apostolic school at Grange-over-San ds in the Diocese of Liver- pool and an apostolic college with 60 students at

Cornwells, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, United States. The Fathers of St. Joseph's Missionary College, Mill Hill, London, have an apostolic school (St. Peter's) at Freshfield, Liverpool, founded in 1884, where youths between the ages of fifteen and twenty are admitted to study the humanities in prep- aration for entrance at St. .Josei)h's College. The present number of students is forty-seven. The chief conditions of admission are, a sound English education, recommendation from a priest, and a small nominal pension. The work of the Mill Hill Missionary Fathers in Uganda, Madras, Punjab, and the Philippine Islands is the fruit of the educa- tion begun at the Freshfield school. Other congre- gations have similar apostolic schools. The Petits Clercs de Saint Joseph have one at Suse in the North of Italy. The number of pupils in 1910 was eighty, and the establishment has already given more than three hundred missionaries, including priests and brothers, to the Church. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have established, for the recruitment of their own order, an organization called "La petite ceuvre du Sacre Coeur pour I'encouragement des vocations sacerdotales et apostoliques". The num- ber of pupils in its various establishments, one of which is at Fribourg in Switzerland, is about six hundred. This institute has already produced more than three hundred priests and two bishops. The congregation of the White Fathers (Peres Blancs) have one hundred and sixty students in their various apostolic schools preparing for missionary work in North Africa. The Lyons Society of African Mis- sions have a preparatory school at Cork in Ireland, and in their various schools they have a total of three hundred students. The Company of Mary have an apostolic school at Romsey, Hants, whither it was recently transferred from Belgium, while the Fathers of St-Edme-de-Pontigny have an apostolic school at Hit chin, recently transferred from Mont-Saint- Michel in Normandy. The Franciscans, the Domini- cans, the Passionists, the Oblates of Mary Immacu- late, and the Redemptorists also have apostolic schools for the recruitment of their own orders.

It has been impossible to obtain complete statis- tics of all existing apostohc schools. The following figures give the status of the chief apostolic schools in 1911: Jesuit, Eremo di Lanzo (transferred from Avignon), 72 pupils; Vitoria (transferred from Bor- deaux), 50 pupils; Turnhout, Belgium; Poitiers; Thieu, 82 pupils; Mungret, Ireland, 73 pupils; Vincentian, Dax, 112 pupils; Wernhoutsburg, 150 pupils; Ingel- munster, 60 pupils; Vienna, 50 pupils; Perryville, Mis- souri, 48 pupils; Germantown, Pennsylvania, 70pupils; Salesian, Tournai, 170 pupils; Guernsey, 70 pupils; St. Joseph's, Mill Hill, St. Peter's, Freshfield, 47 pupils; Petits Clercs de Saint-Joseph, Suse, Italy, 80 pupils; Fathers of the Holy Ghost, Cornwells, Pennsylvania, 60 pupils; Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, in various schools and colleges, 600 pupils; White Fathers, in various schools and colleges, 160 pupils; Society of the African Missions, in various schools and colleges, 300 pupils. This account of the apostolic schools shows how the Holy Spirit is at work in the church, calling and preparing vessels of election to preach the name of God to Gentiles. The work of apostolic schools is, according to the words of Pius IX, "salu- tary and useful" (salutare et utile). "It is", wTote Monseigneur de Segur, "one of the most beau- tiful flowers which the garden of the Church presents at the present day to the eyes of God and men". The graduates of those schools are apostles, and those who contribute to their education have a share in the work and are partakers in the reward of apostles.

De Chazourne, Alberic de Foreata. S.J., fondateur des Ecoles ApostoliqueK, sa vie, et son wuvre (Paris, 1881); Delbrkl, Pour repeupler nos siminaires (Paris, 1907) ; L'Ecole apoatoUque de