Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/750

 732 MONACIIISM MONACO and 5,700 nuns. The revolution of 1848 pro- cured them freedom in many other German states where before they had been either sup- pressed or tolerated under great restrictions ; and even those states whose codes retain laws against their admission in general, as Sweden, Denmark, and Saxony, admitted the sisters of charity. But in 1873 the German imperial diet suppressed the Jesuits, Redemptorists, brothers of the Christian schools, and sisters of charity. The Russian government has also practically extinguished all Roman Catholic establishments ; but Turkey has become a prom- inent field for their missionary operations. The number of monastic associations found- ed since the beginning of the 19th century exceeds the number founded during any other period of equal length. Most of them belong to France, and several have already attained a considerable extension. A peculiar feature which characterizes them as the offspring of the present age is, that they aim at providing for the needs of the people. A large number of them are devoted to the instruction of youth. Such are the " Ladies of the Sacred Heart," and several congregations of school brothers and school sisters. Many others bind themselves to the service of the sick and the poor, as the " Lit- tle Sisters of the Poor," the most numerous and popular of them. Not a few cultivate the mission field; either the foreign missions, as the Picpus society, the Oblates, the brothers and the daughters of Zion (both for the conver- sion of Jews, the latter consisting exclusively of converts) ; or the home missions, as the Pau- lists, established in 1858 at New York. The general advance of culture has deprived the religious orders of the monopoly of education and their former scientific preeminence. Still the Jesuits' schools in Italy, Germany, France, and England are not unworthy of their former reputation. In respect to their moral condition, Roman Catholics admit the existence in some places of considerable degeneracy. In some convents also the ancient constitutions have fall- en more or less into disuse. The regular connec- tion of the general superiors with their subor- dinates has been in great part interrupted, and the holding of general assemblies has ceased. Pope Pius IX., at the beginning of his pontifi- cate, proclaimed it as one of his chief tasks to carry out a thorough reform of monastic or- ders ; and in some orders, as the Dominicans, an extensive reformation has since taken place. The aggregate number of men belonging to the various religious orders and congregations in 1862 was about 120,000 ; the communities of women contained 189,000. The reformation of the 16th century rejected the monachism of the Roman Catholic and the eastern episco- pal churches. In the church of England and the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States, sisterhoods and even brotherhoods have been formed at various times, and have of late increased in number under the auspices of what is commonly called the high church par- ty. Since the beginning of the 19th century both the "Evangelical" and the "High Lu- theran " schools of Germany have approved of the establishment of houses of deacons and deaconesses, also called brother houses and sis- ter houses, the inmates of which associate for the purpose of teaching, attending the sick, taking charge of public prisons, &c. Institu- tions of this kind are rapidly spreading in Ger- many and the adjacent countries. (See DEA- CONESS.) The most important works on the history of monachism in general are : Hos- pinian, De Monachis libri VI, (Zurich, 1588, 1609); Helyot, Histoire des ordres monastiques (Paris, 1714-'19; new ed., with an additional vol. on the modern history of monachism, by Migne, 4 vols., 1849) ; and Doring, Geschichte der Moncksorden (2 vols., Dresden, 1828). The most comprehensive work on the subject is Montalembert's Les moines d 1 Occident (3 vols., Paris, 1860-'67; 3d ed., 1868; English ed., Edinburgh, 1861-"T ; German ed., Ratisbon, 1868). Another extensive work has long been in preparation by Dom Gueranger, superior of the French congregation of Benedictines. (See RELIGIOUS ORDERS.) MONACO, a small principality of Italy, bound- ed S. by the Mediterranean, and surrounded on all other sides by the French department of Alpes-Maritimes, between Nice and Ventimi- glia. At present it consists only of the town of Monaco and a small portion of the adjoining territory, including the town of Monte Carlo ; total area about 6 sq. m. ; pop. in 1867, 3,127; of the town, 1 ,887. It formerly extended about 5 m. along the coast and about 3 m. inland, and consisted of the communes of Monaco, Mentone, and Roccabruna. The principal pro- ducts are fruit and oil. The Genoese family Grimaldi was in possession of this territory under the protectorate of various governments from the 10th century until the early part of the 18th, when, by the marriage of the sole heiress of the name, it passed into the hands of Jacques de Goyon-Matignon, count of Tho- rigny. Under his grandson Honoratus IV. it was united with the French republic in 1793, but was restored to him and placed under the protection of Sardinia in 1815. The latter gov- ernment acknowledged the independence of the principality, and reserved to itself only the power of garrisoning it and of appointing the military commander of the town of Monaco. Florestan I. protested in vain in 1848 against the annexation of the communes of Mentone and Roccabruna by Sardinia, and opened negotia- tions with foreign governments for the sale of his rights. He died in Paris, June 20, 1856, and was succeeded by his son under the name of Charles III., who in 1861 ceded to France his claims upon Mentone and Roccabruna, receiv- ing an indemnity of 4,000,000 francs. In 1868 the pope separated Monaco from the diocese of Nice ; in return for which the prince agreed to establish a Benedictine abbey, the abbot to exercise episcopal functions in the principality.