Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/503



THE RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS IN FRANCE. 497

SERVICES TO CIVIL SOCIETY.

But it is not to the Church alone that the religious orders have from their first appearance rendered immense ser- vices: they have benefited also civil society itself. They have had the merit of preaching virtue to the multitude by the apostolate of good example, as well as by that of word of mouth, of forming and adorning men's minds by the teaching of sacred and profane knowledge, and of enlarging the heritage of the fine arts by splendid works that will Uve.

Whilst their doctors shed renown on the universities by the depth and breadth of their learning, and their houses became the refuge of divine and human knowl- edge, and in the shipwreck of civilization saved from certain destruction the masterpieces of ancient wisdom, other rehgious have penetrated inhospitable regions, swamps or tangled forests, and there, braving every danger in draining and clearing and cultivating the land by the sweat of their brow, they founded round their monasteries and beneath the shadow of the cross centres of population which grew into villages and flourishing towns, whence, under a kindly rule, agriculture and industry began to spread abroad.

When the small number of priests or the needs of the day demanded it, legions of apostles, eminent for their piety and learning, were seen issuing forth from the cloisters, who, by their valiant co-operation with the bishops, exerted the happiest influence on society, by putting an end to feuds, stifling enmity, bringing people back to the thought of duty, and by setting up again in honor the principles of religion and Christian civilization.

Such, briefly indicated, are the merits of the religious orders in the past. They have been registered by the hand of impartial history, and it is superfluous to dwell on them at any greater length. Nor is their activity,