DIVINE
54
DIVORCE
there are stations in Assam (where the sisters conduct
6 orphan asylums), Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Swit-
zerland, Italy, Sicily, British Burma, and in the
United States. They conduct orphan asylums, kin-
dergartens, and schools, and visit the sick in their
homes. The congregation numbers about 200.
Daughters of the Divine Saviour, mother-house at Vienna, a branch of the Niederbrunn Sisters of the Most Holy Saviour, established 1S57. The congrega- tion has over 1200 sisters, choir and lay, who care for the sick in hospitals and in their own homes, and con- duct schools for girls, primary and grammar schools, trade schools, kindergartens, etc. The sisters have 72 houses in the Dioceses of Vienna, St. Polten, Seckau, Koniggratz, Brimn, Gran, Raab, and Parenzo-Pola.
Heimbucher, Ordcn nnd Kongrcgatioileil (Paderborn, 1908); Die Gesellschaft des gottlichen Heilandes (Rome, 1903); Mi"N"z- LOHER, Die ap. Priifektur Assam (Rome, 1899).
F. M. RUDGE.
Divine Service. See Breviary; Feasts; Liturgy; Mass; Wohship.
Divine Word, Society of the (Societas Verbi DiviNi), the first German Catholic missionary society established. It was founded in 1875 during thf period of the Kulturkampf at Steyl, near Tegelen. Holland, by a priest. Rev. Arnold Janssen (d. 15 January, 1909), for the propagation of the Catholic religion among pagan nations. It is composed of priests and lay brothers. On completion of their philosophical studies the students make a year of novitiate, at the end of which they take the ordinary vows binding for three years. Before ordination the members of the society make perpetual vows. The coadjutor brothers renew their vows every three years for nine years, when they take perpetual vows.
The first mission of the society was established in 1882 in Southern Shantimg, China, a district containing 158 Catholics and about 10,000,000 pagans. Accord- ing to the statistics of 1906-07, this mission num- bered 35,378 Catholics, 36,3(57 catechumens, 1 semi- nary with 64 Chinese seminarians, 46 European priests, 12 Chinese priests, 13 coadjutor brothers of the society, 3 teaching brothers, and 19 nuns. The second mis- sion founded was in Togo, West Africa, in 1892. There were then scarcely a hundred Catholics in the district. In 1906 the mission had a prefect Apostolic, 31 European priests, 12 coadjutor brothers, 14 nuns, 53 native teachers, and 68 mission stations. There were nearly 3000 children attending the schools; the Catholics numbered 3.300. The third mission was in German New Guinea. It is a comparatively new colony. Dangerous fevers are common. The na- tives are Papuans (Negritos). They are all savages, recognizing no form of authority, having no fi,\ed customs, or administration of justice. The greatest difiiculty experienced by the missioners is the incred- ible nmnber of languages. Thus in the entire mission district, 467 sq. m., probably more than a hundred languages are spoken. The first Catholic missionaries arrived in German New Guinea in August, 1896. At the close of 1906, there were in the mission a prefect Apostolic, 16 European priests, 13 coadjutor brothers, 18 nuns, 1000 native Cathohcs, and 400 children in the schools.
In the Argentine Republic the society numbers 51 priests, 31 coadjutor brothers, and 41 nuns. They have charge of colleges, seminaries, and of 12 parishes in the four Dioceses of Buenos Ayres, La Plata, Santa F6, and Paranii. Part of the mission dis- trict includes the territory once occupied by the fa- mous Jesuit Reductions of Paraguay. The mission was established in 1898. In Brazil there are 39 priests, 14 coadjutor brothers, and 13 nuns. The so- ciety also has a mission in the United States, at Sher- merville Techny, Cook Co., Illinois. There are 13 priests and 37 coadjutor brothers in charge of a techni- cal school, and 30 nuns who conduct a home for the
aged. In Europe the society has six houses or col-
leges with 126 priests, 546 coadjutor brothers, and 1089
students for the society. The training convent for
the nuns has 231 members. The colleges in Europe
are: (1) St. Michael, at Steyl near Tegelen, Holland,
founded 8 Sept., 1875. The superior general resides
here with 47 priests, 314 coadjutor brothers, and 282
students for the society. (2) Heiligkreuz (Holy
Cross) near Neisse, Silesia, founded 24 Oct., 1892.
There are 23 priests, 84 coadjutor brothers, and 241
students. (3) St. Wendel, in the Diocese of Trier,
with 18 priests, 68 coadjutor brothers, and 185 stu-
dents. (4) St. Gabriel, near Vienna, established 4
Oct., 1889. There are 26 priests, 370 novices and
students of philosophy and theology, and 80 coadjutor
brothers. (5) St. Raphael, Rome, with 5 priests and
one coadjutor brother. (6) Bischofshofen, near Salz-
burg in Austria, established 17 Aug., 1904.
Nuns. — The Society of the Servants of the Holy Ghost (Societas Servnrum Spiritus Sandi) was founded in 1889, at Steyl, Holland, by the Rev. Arnold Jans- sen. It numbers about 300 nuns who help the fathers in their missions, chiefly by teaching.
Heimbucher. Die Ordcn iind Kongrcgatio-nen der katholisclien Kirehe (Paderborn, 1808), III, 510-15.
Eb. LlMBROCK.
Divinity of Christ. See Jesus Christ.
Divisch, Procopius, Premonstratensian, b. at Senftenberg, Bohemia, 26 March, 1698; d. at Prenditz, Moravia, 21 December, 1765. He was christened Wenceslaus, but took the name of Procopius when he became a religious. He began his studies at the Znaym Gymnasium and later entered the cloister school of the Premonstratensians at Bruck, Styria. In 1726 he was ordained and soon after became pro- fessor of philosophy at the school. His lectures on physics were illustrated by numerous interesting ex- periments. He received the doctorate in theology at Salzburg in 1733, his thesis being "Tractatus de Dei unitate sub inscriptione A et S2". In 1736 he took charge of the little parish of Prenditz near Znaym. Here he had sufficient leisure for work and experiment in his favourite subjects, hydraulics and electricity, constructing the necessary instruments himself. His fame soon spread abroad, and he was called to Vienna to repeat his electrical experiments before the Em- peror Francis and the Empress Maria Theresa. He was one of the first to apply electricity in the treatment of disease. In 1750, prior to the publication of the French translation of Franklin's letters to Collinson (1751), he knew of the discharging property of pointed rods and applied his knowledge to the performance of curious tricks. The first lightning-rod was erected by Divisch at Prenditz, in 1754, before Franklin's sugges- tions were known and before they had been carried out elsewhere. Divisch's device is quite different from that proposed by the Philadelphian. He petitioned the emperor in 1755 to jiut up similar rods all over the country and thus protect the land from lightning. This proposal was rejected on the advice of the mathe- maticians of Vienna. He also constructed the Deny- dor (Denis, "Divisch", d'or, "of gold"), a musical in- striunent, imitating string and wind instruments and producing orchestral effects. His theories are ex- pounded in his publisheil work, "Theoretischer Tractat oder die langst verlangte Theorie von der me- teorologischen Electricitat" (Tiibingen, 1765; Frank- fort, 1768; Bohemian tr. Prague, 1899).
Pelzl, Abbildimgtn h'hm. and miihr. Gel. (Vienna, 1777); NusL, Prokop Dieii (Prague, 1S99); Pogoendorff, Gescli. d. Physik (Leipzig, 1S79). WiLLIAM FoX.
Divorce. — This subject will be treated here under two distinct heads: I. In Moral Theology; II. In Civil Jurisprudence.
I. In Moral Theology. — The term divorce {divOT- tium, from diverlere, divortere, "to separate") was
