Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/327

 FRENCH

275

FRENCH

proving himself a worthy successor to Bishop de Goes- briand. Among the living there are scores of others who liave been true pioneers of the Faith, and to whom is due great credit for having so well organized a new and loyal membership of the Church in the United States. Recently one of their number has been elevated to the See of Manchester, New Hamp- shire, in the person of the Right Rev. George Albert Guertin, consecrated 19 March, 1907.

The religious orders of men and women have been worthy co-labourers with the priests in the building-up of parishes. To them have been entrusted the educa- tion of children and the care of the sick and orphans. This mission has been especially well fulfilled in the French American parishes, where the convent of the Bisters and the school of the brothers are the necessary complements of the church itself. One does not go without the other, and as a rule the school is built before the church and is used for a church also. The number of members in the different religious commu- nities of women is given in the accompanying table.

Rhode Island and Massachusetts; the P6res Maristes in Massachusetts.

The French Americans have 133 parochial schools, m which 54,9,s:! children receive Christian education.

Catholic rARocHi.\L Schools in New England

Female Religious in New England

Total in AH In French

Diocese Communities Communities

Boston 1567 200

Burlington 268 115

Fall River 322 254

Hartford 1115 219

Manchester 435 300

Portland 482 355

Providence 551 222

Springfield 792 320

Totals 5532 1985

These 1985 women are distributed in 30 different or- ders, bearing the following names: Congregation de Notre-Dame de Montreal, Filles de Marie (France), Soeurs de Ste-Croix de Montreal, Soeurs de la Provi- dence de Montreal, Soeurs de la Presentation de Marie de St-Hyacinthe, Soeurs de Ste-Anne de Lachine, Soeurs Crises de Montreal, Soeurs de la Merci, Soem-s Crises d'Ottawa, Soeurs de I'Assomption, Soeurs du Bon Pasteur de Quebec, Sceurs Dominicaines, Soeurs Franciscaines Missionaires de Marie, Sceurs Crises de St-Hyacinthe, Soeurs de J^sus-Marie de Sillery, Ur- sulines des Trois Rivieres, Congregation Notre-Dame (Villa Maria), Sceurs de la Sainte Union des Sacr^s- Cceurs, Sceurs du Saint-Esprit, Sceurs du Saint- Rosaire, Filles de la Sagesse, Petites Soeurs des Pauvres, Soeurs de St-Joseph (Le Puy), Soeurs du Sacre-Cceur, Soeurs de St-Joseph (Chamb^ry), Soeurs Servantes du Coeur ImmacuM de Marie, les Fideles Compagnes de J^sus, Sceurs du Bon Pasteur (.\ngers), Petites Sceurs Franciscaines de Marie (Malbaie), Dames de Sion. The most important of these are: the Sceurs de Ste-Croix, with 18 convents and 149 members; Soeurs Crises, with 17 convents and 268 members; Soeurs de la Presentation de Marie, with 16 convents and 193 members; Sceurs de J^sus-Marie, with 19 convents and 171 members.

There are a few communities of brothers: Freres de la Charite de St-Vincent de Paul, 27 members; Freres Mari.stes d'Iberville, 47; Freres de St-Gabriel, 7; Freres des Ecoles ChrC'tiennes, 7; Freres du Sacr^- Coeur, 31 — making a total of 119 members. Be- sides these orders entirely devoted to education, the regular clergy has been given charge of a number of parishes which stand to-day among the most numer- ous and flourishing. For instance, the Dominican Order has two parishes, Ste-Anne, at Fall River, Massachusetts, and St-Pierre, at Lewiston, Maine. The Oblates are established at Lowell, Mass., and Plattsburg, N. Y.; the Peres de la Salette, in Connec- ticut and Massachusetts; the Peres du Sacre-Coeur, in

Diocese

Total Schools

French Schools

Total Pupils

Pupils in French Schools

Boston

Burlington

Fall River

Hartford

Manchester

Portland

Providence

Springfield

76 21 21 69 36 23 26 55

15 17 14 10 19 13 14 31

48,192

5,951

9,300

30,275

12,800

9,138

16,000

22,780

7,263 4,009 6,171 3,508 8,833 6,073 7,414 11,712

Totals

327

133

154,436

54,983

To these must be added the secondary (high-school and university academic courses) college established by the Peres de I'Assomption from France, at Worces- ter, Massachusetts, in 1904, and 14 small academies, commercial colleges, and boartling schools in which there are about 1000 pupils of both se.xes. In con- nexion with the subject of higher education, it may be well to remark that about 3500 French American children attend annually the commercial and second- ary colleges in different cities of Canada. French religious orders, both of women and men, also have charge of 2618 orphans in New England. French nuns have charge of 1865 sick and aged adults, wayward women, and working girls.

Besides their religious work, vast and praiseworthy as it is, the French Canadian immigrants have also displayed industry and activity in other walks of life, and in their closer relations with their fellow-citizens they have shown qualities and traits found only in the best of citizens. In other words they have stood well up to the standard in the body politic and in many ways have exercised over their surroundings an in- fluence for the general good of the community such as to fully justify, at least so far as it refers to them, the statement made by Vice-President Fairbanks, that in the American Nation " flows the richest blood that courses in the veins of all the peoples in all quarters of the globe. " In fifty years, they have built up a press that is not surpassed, from the Catholic point of view, by that of any other group of immigrants in the United States. That press is composed to-day of seven dailies — "LTndependant", of Fall River, Mass.; "L'Opinion Publique", of Worcester, Mass.; " L'E- toile", of Lowell, Mass.; "La Tribune", of Woon- socket, R.I.;" L'Avenir National", and " Le Reveil", of Manchester, N. H.; " L'Echo de la Presse", of New Bedford, Mass.; two papers issued every other day — " I^ Messager", of Lewiston, Maine; " LTmpartial", of Nashua, N. H.; one semi-weekly "Le Jean-Bap- tiste", of Pawtucket, R. I.; and the fifteen weeklies — "L'Union", of Woonsocket, R. I., official organ of L'Union St^Jean-Baptiste d'Amerique; "LeCanado- Am6ricain", of Manchester, N. H., official organ of L'A,s.sociation Canado-Americaine; "La Justice", of Biddeford, Maine; " La Justice", of Central Falls, R. I.; "La Justice", of Holyoke, Mass.; "L'Esta- fette", of Marlboro, Mass.; "Le Progres", of Lawrence, Mass.; "Le Courrier", of Lawrence, Ma.ss.; "Le Courrier de Salem", of Salem, Mass.; "L'Echo de I'Ouest", of Minneapolis, Minn.; " Le Courrier Franco-Americain", of Chicago, 111.; " L'ln- d^pendant" (weekly edition), of Fall River, Mass.; "L'lndependant", of Fitchburg, Mass.; "Le Pro- grds", of Woonsocket, R. I., and "Le Citoyen", of