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Rh tion bestowed on them by the learned Pope Benedict XIV., who, as a former Jesuit pupil and member of the sodality, could well form a competent judgment upon their value. The influence of these sodalities on the moral life of the pupils cannot be valued too highly. Their members are usually the leaders in setting good example to others. The decline of sodalities was frequently followed by a decline of morality in Catholic colleges. In 1871 the sodalities in the thirty higher schools in Rhenish Prussia were hampered by government interference; it was said that the good they might do to individuals, should be accomplished by the schools without them. A year after, in 1872, Dr. Falk, Minister of Instruction in Prussia, ordered the dissolution of the sodalities in all higher schools in the kingdom. Not eight years had elapsed when Dr. Falk's successor, von Puttkamer, on the 20th day of May 1880, had to warn the heads of the same institutions against associations formed by the students with the avowed purpose of practising drink, dishonesty and immorality.

These sodalities, instituted to advance the students in true and solid piety as well as learning, effected inestimable good. The members were exhorted to cherish above all that virtue which is the most beautiful ornament of youth, purity. They created a lofty moral tone in the colleges and sustained a healthy, manly public opinion. Thus these pious associations exerted a most powerful formative influence on the character of the students. Their piety, too, was active