Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/419

 LOUZftimA

878

hoxnuiJUL

eated by the Sisten of Notre-Dame, at their mother- house at Namur, Belgium, and by private tutors at home. Her desire to enter the novitiate being thwarted for some years, she busied herself in works of piety and charity, until in 1837 she was permitted to return to Namur. Clothed in the reli^ous habit, 15 Oct., 1837, under the name of Sister Xouise, her fervour was such that her time of probation was shortened, and ^e pronounced her vows on 7 May, 1839.

That same year Bishop, later Archbishop, J. B. Purcell, of Cincinnati, visiting Namur, asked for sis- ters for his diocese : and Sister Louise was one of eight volunteers chosen for the distant mission. The sisters hmded in New York, 19 Oct., 1840, and proceeded at once to Cincinnati, where, after some delay, they set- tled in the house on East Sixth Street, which still forms the nucleus of the large convent and schools. Sister Louise's knowledge of the English language, her great mind, but still more her edifying life, caused her. although the ^^ouneest of the community, to be named in 1845 superior of the convent at Cincinnati, and in 1848 superior of all houses which might branch out from that, a responsibility she bore until her death. During these forty years the institute spread rapidly, owing to her zeal and prudence. She founded houses at Cincinnati (Court Street), Toledo, Chillicothe, Co- lumbus, Hamilton, Reading, and Dayton (Ohio); Philadelphia (Pennsylvania); Washington (D. C); Boston f4), Lowell, Lawrence, Salem (2), Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea, Lynn, Sprinefiela, Worcester, Chicopee, Milford, Holyoke, and W^bum (Massachu- setts). In many of these cities the sisters, residing in one convent, teach in the schools of several parishes ; so that in 1886 the number of pupils all told was 23,000, while the pupils in Sunday schools and the members of sodalities for women counted as many more. The institute itself increased in the meantime from eight members to nearly twelve hundred. From the outset the rule was kept in its integrity. Strict \mlbn has always been mamtained with the mother- house at Namur; but it was early recognized that if the supply of teachers was to keep up with the de- mand, a no\'itiate must be established in America. This was accordingly done, and the first to be clothed by Sister Louise in the New World (March, 1846) was Sister Julia, destined to be her successor in the office of provincial, after she had been her trusted counsellor for years. In 1877 a second novitiate was opened at Roxbury, in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, which was later transferred to Waltham. Up to that time, colonies of sisters had occasionally been sent from Namur, and the ranks had been increased by some of the sisters exiled from Guatemala in 1859. On the other Iiand, Sister Louise was able to send some help to the province of California, established in 1851.

The mere recital of these facts as the outline of one woman's life-work implies her possession of uncom- mon talents and of administrative power of a high order. Sister Louise was a perfect religious; yet her sanctitv was so free from any singularity of manners or conduct, so true to the rules and spirit of her insti- tute, that what was said of St. Teresa by her sisters might also be said of her, "Thank God, we have seen a saint just like ourselves ". From her zeal for God's glory and the salvation of souls sprang love of prayer, open-handed generosity in adommg the house of God, reverence for priests and religious. From her spirit of faith sprane trust in God, humility, charity to the poor and the suffering, and the thoughtful motherly tender- ness for all her sistors with which her great heart overflowed. She sedulously prepared her teachers to impart an education, simpfe, solid, practical, progres- sive, full of the spirit of taith, capaole of turning out good Catholic young women for the upbuilding of the home and the naUoiL She had no patience with the

superficial, the showy, in the training cf giris. She visited every year the convents east and west, saw all the sisters privately, inspected the aehods, and con- sulted with the reverend pastors. It was therefore with full knowledge of her wide field of labour thai she uttered as her last advice to her community, and un- consciously therein her own best eulogy: " Inank God, there are no abuses to be corrected, individual faults there are, for that is human nature, but none of com- mimitv. Keep out the world and its spirit, and God will bless you."

SisTSR OF NoTRB Dame, Life oJSider Smerwr LouUe; Maw- nix, Memoiru oJSUter Louise; A nnaU of the Iio%U€ ofCimeinnati ; Conference* of Sitter Louise to her Communiiy; see also JuuB BiuxAST, BLE88SD, and NoTRB Dame de NAifint, fosrsm or.

Sister of Notre Dams.

Louisiana. — I. Colonial — ^The history of Louisiana forms an important part of the history ci the United States, and is romantic and interesting. It is closely connected with the history of France and of Spain, somewhat with that of Enuand, and for this reason is more picturesque than the history of any other state of the American Union. Alvarez de Pineda is said to have discovered the Mississippi River in 1519. but his Rio del Espiritu Santo was probably the Mobile River, and we may leave to Hernando de Soto the honour of having been in 1541 the discoverer of the mighty stream into which his body was projected by his companions after the failure of his expedition, under- taken for the conouest of Florida. Some time before the discovery by De Soto, Pamphilo de Narvaes had perished in endeavouring to conquer Florida, but five of his followers had succeeded m reaching Mexico. One of them, Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca, described their wanderings, in which they must have crossed the Mississippi. Many years after de Soto the great Mississippi was rediscovered in 1673 by the Canadian trader Louis Joliet, and by the saintly missicHiary, Father Jacques Marquette, forerunners of Robert Cavelier de La Salle, the celebrated Norman explorer. The latter floated down the Illinois River in 1682. and, entering the Mississippi, followed the course or the river to its mouthjana on 9 April toc^ possesion, in the name of Louis AlV, of the country watered by the Mississippi and ite tributaries. To that vast region he gave the name of " Louisiane" in honour of the King of France, who carried royal power to the highest point, and who was always firm, energetie, and courageous. Among La Salle's compsmons were the chivalric Henry de Tonty and Fathers Z6nobe Mem- bra and Anastase Douay. ^ The name Louisiane is found for the first time in a grant of an island to Frangois Daupin, signed by La Salle, 10 Junew 1679.

Louis XrV wbhed to colonise Louisiana and to unite it to his possessions in Canada by a chain of posts in the Mississippi valley. England would thus De hemmed in between th«) Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian range of mountains. La Salle endea- voured to carry out this scheme in 1684, but Mi colony, Fort Louis, established by mistake on the coast of what is now Texas, periled when its founder was murdered on the Trimty River by some of his own men on 19 March, 1687. In 1688 James II was expelled from England, and the war which ensued between Louis XIV and William III lasted until 1697. When there was peace, the King of France thoujdit once more of settlmg the land discovered by La SaUe, and his minister Maurepas chose Pierre Le Ifoyne d'Iberville as the man best fitted to aooomplish that task. Iberville was the third son of Charles Le If osmeu a Norman established in Canada. He was a native of Villemarie (Montreal), was " as military as his swoid '% and was a brave and able marine officer. He left Brest on 24 Oct.. 169S, and that date is of great im- portance in the history of the United States, for oo board the small frigates, the Badine and the Maitab