Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/25

physical concepts. Bain applied the principles of association to logic and ethics. Spencer inter- preted them in an evolutionistic sense. Certain be- liefs and moral principles are such that the associa- tions of the individual are not sufficient to explain them; they are the associations of successive genera- tions handed down by heredity. The whole process is governed by necessarj' laws. Mental states asso- ciate passively, and mental life is but a process of "mental chemistry". Later Associationists, like Sully, have come to recognize that the mind exerts activity in attention, discrimination, judgment, rea- soning. With this admission there should logically come also the admission of a soul-substance that attends, discriminates, judges, and reasons; but as they have not come to this conclusion, the soul is for them a "train of thoughts", a "stream of con- sciousness", or some other series veiled in meta- phorical language. As-sociation of ideas can never explain neces.sary judgments, conclusions drawn from premises, moral ideas and laws; these have their causes deeper in the nature of things. M. ER, Psychology (London. 1900): Mercier, Psychologic (Louvain, 1899); Gctberlet, DU Psycholoqie (Munster, 1896); Bain. The Senses and the InieUecl (4th ed., London, 1855, 1894); Associaium Controversies in Mind, 1886; J.mes W.RD. Psychological Principles in Mind, 1883-87; Assimila- tion and Association in Mind, 1893-94; Bradley, Logic (London, 1883); Goblot, Theorie physiologique de Vassocia- tion, in Revue philosophique, 1898. Spencer, Principles of Psychology (New York. 1903); James. Principles of Psy- chology (New York, 1890); Wundt, Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology (tr. by Creighton and Titchexer. New York); RiBOT, Im psychologic anglaise contemporaine (Paris, 1901). EdMIXD J. WiRTH. Association of Priestly Perseverance, a sac- erdotal association founded in 1S6S at Vienna, and at first confined to that archdiocese. In 1879, chiefly through the influence of its periodical organ, "La Correspondance", it spread into other dioceses and countries, and in 1903 counted 14,919 living members, belonging to 150 dioceses in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and other countries. This organization is verj' similar to that of the Apostolic Union of Secular Priests (q. v.). Joseph H. McM.vhon. Association of the Holy Family. See Holy F.VMILY. Associations, Pious. — Under this term are com- prehended all those organizations, approved and indulgenced by Church authority, which have been instituted, especially in recent times, for the advance- ment of various works of piety and charity. Other terms used with the same meaning are: pious union, pious work, league, society, etc. Pious associations are distinguished, on the one hand, from ordinary societies composed of Catholics by having an explic- itly religious purpose, by enjo^^ng indulgences and other spiritual benefits, and by possessing ecclesias- tical approbation. They are distinguished, on the other hand, from confraternities and sodalities. The latter distinction is not determined by the name and is not always apparent. In general, pious associa- tions have simpler rules than confraternities; they do not require canonical erection, and though they have the approbation of authority, they are not subject to a-s strict legislation as confraternities; they have no fixed term of probation for new members, no elabo- rate ritual, no .special costumes; they are not obliged to meet for common religious practices, and, as a rule, they make the help of others more promi- nent than the improvement of self. Of all these differences, only that of canonical erection .seems essential. Some authorities, however, declare that practices in common constitute the trait which distinguishes a confraternity from a pious association. Some well-known pious associations are: Society of St. Vincent de Paul; Society of the Propagation of the Faith; .postlesliip of Prayer, known also as the League of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; Holy Child- hood League; Priests' Eucharistic League; Cacilien- verein, an association especially developed in Ger- many for the advancement of religious music. Bekikger. Les indulgences (Paris. 1906); Mocchegiam, Collectio Indulgentiarum (Quaracchi, 1897). F. P. Donnelly. Assuerus, the name of two different persons in the Bible:— 1. In I Esdr., iv, 6, and Esth., i, 17, it corresponds to the Hebrew 'Achdshwerosh, and the Sept. 'Aa-croi/T/pos (in Esth. ' Apra^^p^Tjs) , and denotes Xerxes I, the Kng of Persia. It was to him that the Samaritans addressed their complaints against the inhabitants of Jerusalem soon after 48.5 b. c, i. e. in the beginning of his reign. Intent upon his pleasures and a war with Egj'pt, the king seems to have disre- garded these charges. The report of Herodotus fV'II, viii) that Xerxes convoked a council of his nobles, in the third year of his reign, to deliberate about the war against Greece agrees with Esth., i, 3. telling of the great feast given by the king to his nobles in the third year of his reign. In the seventh year of his reign, after the return of Xerxes from his war against Greece, Esther was declared queen. In the twelfth year of the king's reign, Esther saed the Jews from the national ruin contemplated by Aman. II. An- other A.ssuerus occurs in the Greek text of Tob., xiv, 15 ('Ao-uTjpos), in conjunction with Nabuchodonosor; the taking oil Ninive is ascribed to these two. In point of fact, .ssjTia was conquered by Cj-axares I, the King of Media, and Nabopolassar, the King of Babylonia, and father of Xabuchodonosor. Hence the Assuerus of Tob., xiv, 15, is Cj-axares I; his name is coupled with Nabuchodonosor because the latter must have led the troops of his father in the war against AssjTia. The satue Cj-axares I is probably the Assuerus (' Achd.shwerdsh) mentioned in Dan., ix, 1 , as the father of Darius the Mede. Most probably Darius the Mede is Cyaxares II, the son of Astyages, the King of Media. The inspired writer of Dan., ix, 1, represents him as a son of Cyaxares I, or Assuerus, instead of .styages, on account of the glorious name of the former. This could be done without difficulty, since, in genealogies, the name of the grandson was often introduced instead of that of the son. Hagen, Lexicon Biblicum (Paris. 1905); LESETRt; in Via., Dicl. de la Bible (Paris, 1895). A. J. Maas. Assumption, Little Sisters of the, a congrega- tion whose work is the nursing of the sick poor in their own homes. This labour they perform gratuitously and without distinction of creed. The congrega- tion was founded in Paris in 1865, by the Rev. Etienne Pernet, A.A. (b. 23 July, 1824; d. 3 April, 1899), and Marie Antoinette Tage, known in religion as Mother Marie de Jesus (b. 7 Nov., 1824; d. 18 Sept., 1883). Both had long been engaged in charitable work, Father Pernet while a professor in the College of the Assumption at Nimes, and Mile. Tage as a meml:)er of the Association of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Paris. They met in Paris and Father Per- net placed her in charge of the work of nursing the sick poor which he had inaugurated. Out of this movement the sisterhood grew, Mother Marie de J6sus being the first superior. The nursing of the sick poor is not the only or even the chief purpose of the Little Sisters. They endeavour to bring about conversions, to regularize illicit unions, to have children baptized, sent to school, and prepared for First Communion and Confirmation. They form societies among their clients and enlist the aid of laj'men and lapvomen of education and means to further the work of regeneration. The congregation has established houses in Italy, Spain, Belgium, Eng- land, Ireland, and the L'nited States of America. The papal Brief approving the congregation was