Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/590

 JOSEPH

518

JOSEPH

saintly Father McAtee, S.J. (d. 1904), to whose spirit- ual direction and kind encouragement were, by the Providence of God, due the successful labours of the young community. St. Joseph's Home, Jersey City, an orphanage, is the principal home of the province, with its novitiate at Englewood, N. J. Here there was a large building erected for the benefit of girls, where they could spend their summer holidays. It is beautifully situated on the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. The blind were first taken in charge in a small building in Jersey City, on the site of which the present Institute of the Blincl stands. The grow- ing needs of this institution obliged the purchase of other property in the neighbourhood, and now men, women, and children, are cared for in separate build- ings. In the school the children are taught by the improved methods of raised letters and the point sys- tem, while the older inmates are employed in various branches of industry. For greater facilities and the accommodation for girls a second house was opened in Jersey City, where industrial classes are held on four evenings in the week, and instruction given in plain sewing, dressmaking, millinery, and cooking. The "Orphans' Messenger and Advocate of the Blind", a quarterly magazine, printed on the premises of St. Joseph's Home, by the orphan boys, under the direc- tion of a proficient master, is the chief source of main- tenance for these charities, especially for the blind. It has a wide circulation in the United States and Canada. From this province houses were founded on the Pacific Coast, the first (St. Joseph's Hospital) be- ing established in 1S90 at Bellingham, Washington (Diocese of Seattle). Later on other foundations were made in British Columbia (Diocese of New West- minster), namely a hospital at Rossland, another at Greenwood, and a day and boarding school at Nelson. Recently a house for girls was opened at Seattle, Washington. The houses in the West form one province, which has its own novitiate.

E. G. Bagshawe.

Sisters op St. Joseph op St. Hyacinthe, founded at St. Hyacinthe, Canada, 12 Sept., 1877, by the bishop of "that diocese, Louis-Z^phirin Moreau, for the Christian instruction of children and the visitation and care of the sick. Civil incorporation was granted 30 June, 1881, and canonical institution 19 March, 1882. The activities of the congregation are confined to the Diocese of St. Hyacinthe, in which 180 sisters are engaged, with about -3000 children under their care.

Le Canada Ecclcsiastique (Montreal, 1910).

Sisters of St. Joseph op the Apparition, with mother-house at Marseilles, founded at Gaillac, France, in 1830, by Mme Emilie de Vialard, for all kinds of charitaljle work. The institute spread rap- idly from the beginning, and although some of the houses in France were closed during the French Revo- lution, they now number over 100 in various parts of the world, "with over 1000 sisters. The congregation received the approval of the Holy See, 31 March, 1862. The sisters have one house in England, at Whalley Park, Manchester, where 10 sisters devote themselves to the care of invalided ladies, for whom they opened a home there in 1905; they also nur.se in private houses. They now have about 20 branch houses in the British colonies, in the principal towns in British Burma, Malta, Cyprus, at Beirut, and in .\ustralia, in all of which places there are high schools, homes for the aged, and orphanages under the charge of the sisters. There are other branch houses in Italy, Greece, South Africa, and the Holy Land. The number of sisters varies in each of the colonial houses from 15 to 20. At the request of the Bishop of Perth, the sisters opened their first house in Western Australia at Fre- mantle, in 1S54, where also they later established a novitiate. They have now in Western Australia 6

communities, with 56 members, in charge of 6 schools, with a total attendance of 1 100. The sisters also visit the poor.

.Steele, Comments of Great Britain (St. Louis, 1902); Austral- asian Catfwlic Directory for 1910 (Sydney).

Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a purely Australian foundation, established at Penola, South Australia, in 1866, by Father Julian Tennison Woods and Miss Mary Mackillop, in religion Mother Mary of the Cross (b. 1832; d. at Sydney, 8 Aug., 1909). Father Woods (d. 1886), a man of burning zeal and a pious director of souls, endeavoured to found two religious congregations, one for men, which failed, and one for women, which succeeded beyond his hopes. About 1S66 he placed at the head of the latter Miss Mackillop, whom he sent to the Sisters of St. Joseph at Annecy, Savoy, to learn their rule. As much opposition was raised to his project, the founder went to Rome and obtained papal sanction. Since then the numerous communities of this congregation have been placed by the Holy See under the bishops of the dioceses in which they work. Most of the young men who have risen to parliamentary fame owe their early education to these sisters. Their schools receive no government grant, in spite of which they are superior to the free secular schools. The sisters, in commu- nities of two or three, did the pioneer work in the mis- sion field of Australia, seconding the labours of the clergy so ably that there have been few defections from the Faith. They are the mainstay of missions visited by a priest only once a month or once in three months. In cases where a year has elapsed between the visits of a priest, the sisters have toiled on, keep- ing up the day-school and on Sundays gathering the children for catechism and the rosary, and the people for the reading of a sermon, thus preparing them to receive the sacraments on the arrival of a priest. The mother-house of the congregation is at Sydney, New South Wales. The sisters number 650, in charge of 117 schools, with an attendance of 12,500, and 12 charitable institutions, including orphanages and ref- uges, an industrial home, a girls' reformatory, etc. The work of the sisters extends over the Archdioceses of Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Wellington, the Dioceses of Armidale, ^\'ilcannia, Port Augusta, Ben- digo. Sale, Auckland, C'hristchurch, Dunedin, and Rockhampton, and the Abbey Nullius of New Norcia. The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart of the Diocese of Bathurst, who have their own constitu- tions, number 250 in 54 houses.

Francesca M. Steele.

Joseph Calasanctius, Saint, called in religion "a Matre Dei", founder of the Piarists, b. 11 Sept., 1556, at the castle of Calasanza near Petralta de la Sal in Aragon; d. 25 Aug., 1648, at Rome; feast 27 Aug. His parents, Don Pedro Calasanza and Donna Maria Gastonia, gave Joseph, the youngest of five children, a good education at home and then at the school of Petralta. After his classical studies at Estadilla he took up philosophy and jurisprudence at Lerida and merited the degree of Doctor of Laws, and then with honours completed his theological course at Valencia and Alcala de Henares. His mother and brother having died, Don Pedro wanted Joseph to marry and perpetuate the family. God interfered liy sending a sickness in 1582 which soon brought Joseph to the brink of the grave. On his ropovor\- he was ordained priest 17 Dec, 1583, by Ilvigo Anibrose do Monoada, Bishop of Urgel. Joseph l)egun his labours as jiriest in the Diocese of Albarracin, where Bishop della Figuera appointed him his theologian and confessor, synodal examiner and procurator, and when the bishop was transferred to Lerida his theologian fol- lowed him to the new diocese. In 15S6 ilclla Figuera was sent as Apostolic visitator to the Al)bey of Mont- serrat, and Joseph accompanied him as secretary.