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ill his honour Colonel Corcoran refused to order the ."^ixty-Ninth Regiment to join. For this act of niiUtarj' disobedience he was placed under arrest liy the State authorities and ordered before a court martial. The trial created much excitement all over the country, liis Irish countrj'men enthusiastically
 * 'I>l)lauding his course, and the case was pending when

till- Civil War broke out. The proceedings were iiu'iiediately quashed, and the Sixty-Ninth, with cM-rflowing ranks, was one of the first regiments to r i:iri'h, with Corcoran at its head, 23 April, 18&1, In the defence of the Union. It participated with siH<(ial gallantry in the first Battle of Bull Run, 21 .laly, 1861, in which action Colonel Corcoran w^as wounded and taken prisoner. He was kept in the I '■Mifederate prisons for thirteen montlis and then ex- I 'Kinged in August, 1862. His return to the North I M ought him a series of popular ovations and testi- iiiiinials. He was commis-sioned a brigadier-general, at ft American ftistorical Miscellany (New
 * .. 190.5); The Irish Amrrican (New Yorki, The Pilot (Bos-
 * rontemporary files; Cavanagh, Memoirs of Gen. Thomas

.vcM Meagher (Worcester, 1S92).

Tho.mas F. Meehan.

■ Cord, Confraternities of the, pious associations lof the faithful, the members of which wear a cord or [cincture in honour of a saint, to keep in mind some Ispecial grace or favour which they hope to obtain Ithrough his intercession. Among Oriental peoples, land es[)ecially among the Jews, whose priests and Iprophets wore a cincture, the wearing of a belt or

u'ir.lle dates back to very ancient times. Christ him- -•■\l commanded his Apostles to have their loins girded. In the early Church virgins wore a cincture

■ :i sign and emblem of purity, and hence it has viys been considered a symbol of chastity as well

'f mortification and humility. The wearing of a nl or cincture in honour of a saint is of very ancient -in, and we find the first mention of it in the life >t. Monica. In the Middle Ages cinctures were ■< worn by the faithful in honour of saints, though ronfraternities were formally established, and tfie I ring of a cincture in honour of St. Michael was MTai throughout France. Later on, ecclesiastical hority set apart special formula for the blessing i'lclures in honour of the Most Precious Blood, I Lady, St. Francis of Paul, and St. Philomena. re are in the Church three archconfraternities I one confraternity the members of which wear lord or cincture.

1) TIte Archconfraternily of Our Lady of Consola-, or of the Black Leathern Bell of Si. Monica, St. luxline, and St. Xirliolan of Toleniino. — -■Vccording ill ol<l tradition. St. Monica in a vision received a ' k leathern belt from the Blessed Virgin, who xs- • d the holy widow that she would take under her I i:il protection all tho.se who wore it in her honour. Monica related this vision to .St. .-Vmbro.se and Simplicianus; both saints put on a leathern belt, 1 St. Ambrose is said to have girded St. Augu.stine li it at his baptLsm. Later on it was adopted by llennits of St. .Augustine as a distinctive part of ir habit. When, after the canonization of St. Imlas of Tolentino, it came into general use ing the faithful. Eugene IV in 1439 erected the ifratcrnity of the Cincture of St. Monica, St. ^ is;iistine. and St. Nicholas of Tolentino, in the jhurch of St. James at Bologna. In 1590 Thaddcus

of Perugia, General of the Augustinians, united this confraternity and that of Our Lady of Consolation (founded in 1318 or, according to others, in 1495) into one confraternity, which union was confirmed by Gregory XIII in his Bull "Ad ea" (15 July, 1575). The same pope raised this confraternity to the rank of an archconfraternity and enriched it with many Indulgences. He further ordained that all confra- ternities of the black leathern belt should be aggre- gated to the archconfraternity at Bologna, in order to share its privileges and Indulgences. The princi- pal feast of this confraternity is the Sunday within the octave of the feast of St. Augustine (28 August). The members are obliged to wear a black leathern belt, to recite daily thirteen Paters and Aves and the Salve Regina, and to fast on the vigil of the feast of St. Augustine. For the erection of and re- ception into this archconfraternity special faculties must be had from the general of the .Augustinians.

(2) Archconfraternity of the Cord of St. Francis. — After his conversion St. Francis girded himself with a rough cord in memory of the cords with which Christ had been bound during His Passion, and a white girdle with three knots came subsequently to form part of the Franciscan habit. According to Wadding, St. Dominic received the cord from St. Francis and always wore it under his habit out of devotion to the saint, his example being followed by many of the faithful. In his Bull "Ex supernae dis- positionis" (19 November, 1585), Sixtus V erected the Archconfraternity of the Cord of St. Francis in the basilica of the Sacro Convento at Assisi, enrich- ing it with many Indvdgences, and conferred upon the minister general of the Conventuals the power of erecting confraternities of the Cord of St. Francis in the churches of his own order and of aggregating them to the archconfraternity at Assisi. The same pope, in his Bull " Divinse caritatis" (29 August, 1587), granted new Indulgences to the archconfra- ternity and empowered the minister general of the Friars Minor to erect confraternities of the Cord of St. Francis in the churches of his own order in those places where there are no Conventuals. Paul V, in his Bull "Cumcertas" (2 March, 1607), and "Nuper archiconfraternitati" (11 March, 1607), revoked all spiritual favours hitherto conceded to the archcon- fraternity and enriched it with new and more ample Indulgences. Both these Bulls were confirmed by the Brief of Clement X, "Dudvim felicis" (13 July, 1673). Finally, Benedict XIII in his Constitution "Sacrosancti apostolatus" (30 September, 1724), con- ceded to the minister general of the Conventuals au- thority to erect confraternities of the Cord of St. Francis in churches not belonging to his own order in those places where there are no Franciscans. New privileges and Indulgences were conceded to the archconfraternity by two decrees of the Sacred Con- gregation of Indulgences dated 22 March, 1879, and 26 May, 1883. Besides the ordinary requireinents necessary for the gaining of all plenary and partial Indulgences, tlie wearing of the cord and enrolment in the records of the archconfraternity are the only conditions imposed on the members.

(3) .Archconfraternity of the Cord of St. Joseph. — The miraculous cure of an .\ugustinian nun at Ant- werp in 1657 from a grievous illness, through the wearing of a cord in honour of St. Joseph gave rise to the i)ious practice of wearing it to obtain the grace of purity through his intercession. The devo- tion soon sprca<i over many countries of Europe, an<l in the last century was revived at Rome in the church of San Rocco and in that of San Nicol6 at Verona. Pius IX, in a rescript dated 19 Septem- ber, 1859, approved a special formula for the bless- ing of the Cord of St. Joseph, and in his Brief "Ex- positum nobis nuper" (14 March, 1802) enriched the confraternity with many indulgences. In 1860 sev-