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 CHARITY

602

CHARITY

cial, and municipal. Municipal poor-relief did not, however, originate with the Reformation. As noted above, it had been quite general in the fifteenth cen- tury. In the first half of the sixteenth it underwent important developments in the cities of Belgium, beginning with Ypres (1524). The new ordinances of this city were, it seems, chiefly due to the ideas of tin Spanish theologian and humanist, Vives. His work, "De Subventione Pauperum", was written while he resided at the court of Henry VIII, and was published at Bruges in 1526 (cf. Ratzinger, op. eit., pp. 438 sq.). It was soon translated into Spanish, Italian, and French. In the second part, which deals with public charity, Vives declares that it is the duty of the civic authorities to care for the needy, and lays down provisions by which the work can best be accom- plished. His most important recommendations are: that a census be taken of the indigent; that all who are able be compelled to work; that the authorities, if necessary, provide employment; and that begging be prohibited. These proposals aroused considerable opposition on the ground that they savoured of Lutheranism, denied the natural right of man to beg, and were too harsh upon the deserving poor. The faculty of the Sorborme, to which the controversy was referred for adjudication, decided that the recom- mendations of Vives were contrary neither to the Gospel nor the Fathers, but made the reservation that begging should not be prohibited unless the public resources were sufficient to relieve all the dis- tressed. In the w"ork of Vives, says Ratzinger, we find all the fundamental principles of every sound system of relief that has ever existed. And we might add that, as they were not due to the Reforma- tion, but to the intellectual revival winch preceded it, they would have been much more fruitful had their application not been hindered by the social, political, and religious disturbances for which the Reformation was responsible. In 1531 the proposals of Vives were embodied in a general law of the Emperor Charles V, with the proviso that the local authorities should have discretionary power to license certain persons to beg. The means of caring for distress under t he new ordinances were to be provided by t he hospitals and other foundations, and by voluntary contributions.

The Council of Trent laid down minute regulations concerning the administration of hospitals and hos- pital funds, and reaffirmed the duty of the bishops not only to enforce these regulations, but to examine and oversee all measures for the relief of the poor (De Reformation, Sess. VII, XXII, XXV). In many portions of the Catholic world these ordinances soon bore considerable fruit, especially in connexion with tin 1 re-establishment of the system of parish relief. The greatest name identified with this work is that of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop of Milan. As a result of his boundless zeal and tireless activity, his diocese before long possessed a complete organization nt y u hich was worthy of comparison with that ■ it the early I hurch, and surpassed any system of his own time. One of the must important features of the period now under consideration has been the rise of religious communities and other associations to re- lieve various kinds of i list ress. The Unit hers of Char- ity, founded by St. John of the Cross in Granada, 1534, to rare fur the sick, soon spread over Spain.

Portugal, Italy. France, ami Germany. In North America appeared the hospital orders of the Brothers of St. Hippolytus (Mexico, 1585) and the Bethlehem- ites (Guatemala, 1660). A. congregation whose mem- bers are at once priests and physicians arose in Turkey under the name of "fathers of the Pesti- lence". The Daughters, or Sisters, of Charity.

founded by St. Vincent de Paul about the year 1633 have become celebrated for their manifold works of mercy in every part of the world. St. Vincent's

work on behalf of foundlings, galley-slaves, and the wretched of all descriptions, makes him the most remarkable worker in the field of charity that the world has ever known. The Piarists whose object is the instruction and care of poor children were in- stituted in 1597 by Joseph of Calasanza, and have become very numerous in Austria, Italy, Spain, and Poland. The Institute of the Blessed Virgin, the "English Ladies", founded by Mary Ward in 1611, was intended to be chiefly a teaching order, though it also has orphan asylums, chiefly in Bucharest and Bavaria. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd de- vote themselves to the reformation of wayward girls. Their founder was a Frenchman, Father Eudes (1642). The Little Sisters of the Poor had their origin in the charitable work of a French servant girl, Jeanne Jugan, and received the approbation of the Holy See in 1854. Their splendid work on behalf of the aged, as also the rescue work of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, is recognized by all classes in all civilized countries. Although the congregations just mentioned are among the most important that have been established for the relief of distress since the Reformation, they are in reality only a small part of the whole number (cf. Ratzinger, op. cit., pp. 508-536). By far the greatest lay association that has arisen during this period is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. It was originated in 1833 by Frerleric Ozanam and seven other Catholic students in Paris. At present, branches of the society, called conferences, are to be found in almost every country of Europe, North and South America, and in many parts of Asia, Africa, and Australasia. In 190o the whole number of conferences throughout the world was estimated at six thousand, with a combined membership of one hundred thousand, or two hun- dred thousand, including the honorary members. The individual conferences of each city are usually combined into a particular council, the particular councils of a large locality, province, or country, are federated into a central or a superior council, while the superior councils of all the countries are repre- sented in the council-general in Paris. The society does not confine its ministrations to direct mate- rial assistance, but in many places maintains nurser- ies, libraries, orphanages, schools, and employment bureaus, and strives everywhere to extend moral and religious aid and encouragement to those in need of these forms of charity. Owing to its religious spirit, its centralized organization, and its method of per- sonal contact with the needy, the St. Vincent de Paul Society is, relatively to its resources, probably the most effective of all existing associations for the relief of distress.

To-day the characteristic agencies of Catholic char- ity are: institutions in charge of religious communi- ties, as monasteries, hospitals, reformatories, and asylums for homeless infants, for orphans, for the deaf, dumb, blind, aged, crippled, and insane; the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and other associations of the same general character; and the parish, through the informal and unorganized, yet very important, work of the parochial clergy. In conformity with the regulations of the Council (if Trent, all these arc under the supreme direction of the bishop. Some statistics pertaining to France and the United States may be tak.n as fairly representative. In 1901 the number of persons assisted bv Catholic societies in the former countrv was 107.100, or S3.0U0 children. Too girls and women in refuges, 17.000 aged, and 6.70(1 insane

persons. The total number of Catholic charitable societies exceeded 4000 (Henderson, Modern Methods

of Charity, p. 527). In the preceding year the 1 100 French conferences of the St . Vincent de Paul Society expended 440,000 dollars in relief work. According to the Catholic Directory for 1908, there were in the

United States 272 orphan asylums with 42,597 in-