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 URSULINES

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URSULINES

In accordance with the wish of Leo XIII, a con- gress of Ursuhnes from all parts of the world con- vened at Rome during the fall of the year 1900. Representatives were sent from the United Stales, South America, Java, and all parts of Europe. Under the ausjiifcs of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, the Roman Union of Ursulines wa.s then formed, with the Most Reverend Mother .Mary of St. Julien as the first mother-general. Cardinal Satolli was appointed the first cardinal prot<rtor. To this union belong over a hundred communities; aggregations are made from year to year. The united communities are divided into eight provinces as follows: Italy; Austro-Hungary; Hungary; the East of France; the West of France; Holland-Belgium-England-Germany; the North of

Uhscline Ncns

the United States; the South of the United States; Spain and Portugal. Many large and important communities still retain their independent organiza- tion. Of late years the Ursulines have suffered severely in France and Portugal. The members of the expelled communities have become affiliated to other foundations both in Europe and the United Slates.

The habit of the order is of black serge, falling in folds, with wide sleeves. On ceremonial occasions a long train is worn. The veil of the professed relig- ious is black, of the novice white. The guimpe and bandeau are of plain white hnen, the cincture of black leather. There are two grades in each com- munity; the choir religiou.s, so called from their obligation to recite the office daily in choir; and the lay listers. The former are occupied in teaching, the latter in domestic duties. Candidates for either grade p;i.ss six months probation as postulants in the community in which they desire to become stabili- tated. This period is followed by two years of prep- aration in a central novitiate, at the expiration of which the three vows of religion are pronounced temporarily, for a term of three years. At the end of the third year the profession is made perpetual. In .some Ursuline communities solemn vows are taken, and there papal enclosure is in force. The vows of the Ursulines in the United States, though perpetual, are simple. From their earliest founda-

tions the Ursulines have been thorough and progres- sive teachers. Their sj-stem might be termed eclec- tic, utilizing the effective points of all methods. The European houses are for the most part boarding- schools ; in the United States, combinations of boarding and day-schools. The nuns also conduct many parochial schools, which, like the others, comprise all grades: elementary, academic, and college courses. Tlie first Catholic college for women in New York State was founded by the Ursulines at New Rochelle in 1904. The Ursuhnes in several other parts of the United States have followed this precedent, and arc labouring practically to further the higher education of women. The German Ursulines, who were ex- jielled through the influence of the Kulturkampf and re-admitted after an exile of ten years, are jjcr- mitted to resume their teaching, but for pupils of high -school grade only. In Europe and America alike the Ursulines make it a point to secure State ajiproval, and avail themselves of every advantage offered by the public institutions.

1'r.sui.ixes of QrEBEr, Wimpsf.s- o! the Mona si rrv (IS07); II'Heii.i.y, I.ifr of St. Angela (ISSO): Cirrutar LHlers of the MnlhcT-Genernl (1904-11); Hubert, Die hcilige Ani/ela Merici I.Mainz. 1S91).

Mother Mary Fidelis.

Ursulines of Quebec, The. — The Ursuline mon- asten" of (Jucbcc is the oldest institution of learning for women in Xorth .\merica. Its historj- begins on 1 .\ugust, 16:59, when its first members landed in Canada, thirty-one years after Champlain had founded (Quebec (1608) and only four after his death. The monastery was established by Marie Guyard de I' Incarnation, declared Venerable by the Holy See (|S74), and Madame de la Peltrie, a rich widow of .\len(jon in Normandy. The former, after ten years of widowhood, had joined the Ursulines at Tours. Her first biographer Wiis her .son, Dom Claude Martin, a Benedictine, who died in the odour of sanctity, in U)96. His "Life of the Venerable Mother of the In- carnation" was approved (1677) by the venerable Bishop Laval. Bossuet (Etats d'oraison, IX) calls Marie de ITncamation "the Theresa of her time and of the New World". The letters royal sanction- ing the foundation and signed by Louis XIII are dated 16.39. After three years spent in the Lower Town, near Champlain's Hahitnlinn, the nuns entered (1642) the convent built on the ground they still occupy, conceded to them (1:59) by the Company of New France. Their first pupils were Indians, with whom they succeeded better than the Jesuits with their native boys. Marie de ITncarnation mastered the difficult Indian languages thoroughly, and com- posed dictionaries in Algonquin and Iroquois, also a sacred history in the former, and a catechism in the latter idiom. The first monasterj- was burned in 16.50, but was soon rebuilt. The Constitutions, written by Father Jerome Lalemant, uncle of the Jesuit martyr, Gabriel Lalemant, combined the rules of the two Congregations of Paris and Bordeaux, and were observed until Bishop La\'al decided (1681) in favour of the former, which binds its members by a fourth vow to teach girls.

The mon.astery shared at all times the country's fate. It was threatened by the Iroquois in 1661-62, when one of its ch.aplains, the Sulpician Vignal, was slain and devoured near Montreal by those savages. It underwent the sieg(? and bombanlment of Quebec bv Phips (l(i9) and bv Wolfe (17,59). After the fateful battle of 13 Sept., 1759, the French hero, Montcalm, was buricfl by night in the convent chapel. The first English governor, Murray, used part of the monastery as his headquarters. On that occasion the rations served to the nuns for nursing the wounded and sick sjived them from perishing of starvation. The governors and viceroys, both English and French, were always friendly to the institution.