| In 15 places | In 24 other places | ||
| Up to 40 years of age | $425 | $400 | |
| From 40 to 50 | 475 | 450 | |
| {{{1}}}„ 50 to 60 | 525 | 500 | |
| {{{1}}}„ 60 to 70 | 575 | 550 | |
| Over 70 years of age | 600 | 575 |
The civil district of Lower Alsace pays the Bishop of Strasburg $1,000 (4,000 marks) and each vicar-general and canon of the cathedral $300 (1,200 marks) as additional salary.
Church Taxes.—At the session of the Provincial Diet in 1901 the proposal was made on behalf of the Government that the increasing needs of the various denominations recognized by the State should be met by means of the assessments, or church taxes, imposed by the State. Only the Protestant church authorities, however, have so far acted on this recommendation, so that only the Protestant taxpayers are liable to these special taxes. They amounted (in 1906) to $47,218 (188,870 marks 48 pf.), and are applied to the increase of Protestant pastoral stipends and pensions, and the support of widows and orphans.
Religious Houses.—Prior to the French Revolution there were about 100 monasteries in Alsace, in addition to the canons regular of Strasburg Cathedral, three houses of canonesses and nine collegiate churches. The following orders laboured in the country: Augustinians, Benedictines (monks and nuns), Celestines, Cistercians (monks and nuns), Poor Clares, the Teutonic Order, Dominicans (friar and nuns), Franciscans (friars and nuns), Jesuits (until the suppression of the Society), Johannites, Capuchins, Carthusians, Premonstratensians, the Congregation of Our Lady, Sisters of St. Joseph, Sisters of the Visitation. In the Diocese of Metz there were, besides the cathedral chapter, eleven collegiate churches, three Augustinian canonries, nine Benedictine, four Cistercian, and three Premonstratensian abbeys. There are now in the Diocese of Strasburg seven orders of men and twenty-one of women; Trappists at Ölenberg, near Reiningen, since 1825; Capuchins at Königshofen and Sidgolsheim (1888); Redemptorists at Bischenberg and Riedisheim (1896); Fathers of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Zabern (1900); Marist Brothers at St. Pilt (as home for the emeriti); Brothers of Christian Doctrine at Matzenheim, Zelsheim, and Ehl (1821); Brothers of Mercy at Strasburg (1900); Trappist nuns at Ergersheim; Congregation of Our Lady (of St. Peter Fourier) at Strasburg and Molsheim; Carmelite nuns at Marienthal; Congregation of Maria Reparatrix at Strasburg; Benedictine nuns of the Perpetual Adoration at Ottmarsheim; Benedictine nuns of the Blessed Sacrament at Rosheim; Dominican nuns at Colmar, Sisters of the Good Shepherd at Strasburg and Mülhausen; Sisters of the Mostt Sacred Heart of Jesus at Kienzheim; Sisters of Divine Providence at Rappoltsweiler; Sisters of Christian Doctrine at Strasburg; Sisters of Providence at St. John of Bassel; Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at Baronsweiler; Sisters of Mercy at Strasburg (mother-house), and in many hospitals; Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer at Oberbronn (mother-house), and in many hospitals and individual foundations; Sisters of the Holy Cross at Strasburg (four houses), Colmar, Sennheim, and Still; Sisters of St. Joseph at St. Marx near Geberschweier, and at Ebersmünster; Little Sisters at Strasburg and Colmar; Institute of St. Anthony at Strasburg; Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Dauendorf; Franciscan nuns at Rheinackern and Thal.
In the Diocese of Metz there are now five orders of men and twenty-one of women; Franciscans at Metz and Lubeln (1888); Redemptorists at Teterchen; Oblates of the Immaculate Conception of Mary at St. Ulrich; Fathers of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Neuscheuern (1904); the Brothers of Christian Doctrine (of St. John Baptist de La Salle) at Metz; Sisters of Mercy (from Strasburg) in many hospitals; Benedictine nuns at Oriocourt; Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo at Metz; Sisters of St. Christiana at Metz; Sisters of Christian Doctrine at Cháteau-Salins; Dominican nuns at Rettel; Franciscan nuns at Metz; Sisters of the Good Shepherd at Metz; Servants of the Sacred Heart at Sey; Sisters of the Sacred Heart at Pépinville; Sisters of the Visitation at Metz; Little Sisters at Borny; Sisters of the Holy Redeemer (from Niederbronn) in hospitals; Sisters of Hope at Metz; Sisters of Christian Mercy at Metz; Sisters of the Divine Motherhood at Metz; Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus at Plappeville; Carmelite nuns at Metz; Sisters of the Heart of Mary at Vic; Sisters of the Divine Providence at St. John of Bassel; Vincentian Sisters (of Metz) at Metz. These orders of women devote themselves chiefly to the education of girls, the care of the sick and to a contemplative life of penance.
Clerical Seminaries.—The Episcopal Seminary, together with the Episcopal University of Strasburg, consisting of faculties of theology and canon law, with power to confer academic degrees, were closed at the French Revolution. When, however, Napoleon, by Article XI of the Concordat, granted each bishop permission to establish a seminary in his diocese, Bishop Laurine, who was made Bishop of Strasburg in 1802, immediately proceeded to open a seminary in his cathedral city in the following year (1803), in which young clerics were educated during the course of the nineteenth century. On the 5th of December, 1902, Cardinal Rampolla, Secretary of State, and the Prussian envoy to the Holy See, Freiherr von Rotenhahn, came to an agreement concerning the erection of a Catholic theological faculty at the Kaiser-Wilhelm University of Strasburg, which was accordingly opened in October, 1903, and in which the following subjects are taught: Preparatory instruction in philosophy and theology, dogmatics, moral theology, apologetics, church history, Old and New Testament exegesis, canon law, pastoral theology, ecclesiastical archæology. The professors are chosen by the bishop and confirmed in their appointment by the Emperor; they are obliged to make a profession of faith according to the forms and rules of the Church, in the presence of the Dean, before entering on their duties. The rules which govern the Catholic theological faculties at Bonn and at Breslau apply to the Strasburg faculty and its members, in their relations with the Church. If the ecclesiastical authorities submit evidence that a professor is unfit to continue his functions as teacher either because of lack of orthodoxy or because of conduct unbecoming a clergyman, the State immediately provides a successor, and takes measures to terminate the offender's connection with the faculty. Alongside of this theological faculty the Episcopal Seminary continues to exist and gives the young students a parochial training and education in all branches pertaining to the exercise of the priestly office. The seminary, at the present time, is managed by a superior, a director, and three professors. The cost of maintenance for the faculty falls exclusively on the State; the seven ordinary and one extraordinary, professors who lecture before it, received in 1906, $11,875 (47,500 marks) among them, and $725 (2,900 marks) as extras. The clergy of the Diocese of Metz are trained in the seminary at Metz by professors of the Bishop's nomination.
Episcopal Gymnasia.—Bishop Raess having refused to acknowledge the State supervision of the Preparatory Seminaries at Strasburg (Lower Alsace) and Zillisheim (Upper Alsace), which, up to then, had been wholly subject to the diocesan authorities,
