INSTITUTE
60
INSTITUTE
It is especially in France that the work of the
spiritual retreats, of which the chief centre has been
the Association of St. Benoit-Joseph Labre, has been
developed. Founded in Paris in 18S3, it had, twenty-
five years later, brought together 41,600 young
Parisians at the house of retreat, at Athis-Mons.
About the same time, "retreats previous to gradua-
tion" were gradually introduced in the schools of all
countries with the view of the perseverance in their
religious practices of the graduates entering upon
active life. During the administration of Brother
Gabriel-Marie, and untU 1904, the normal progress of
the congregation was not obstructed. The expan-
sion of its divers works attained its maximum.
Here are the words of one of the official reports of the
Universal Exposition of Paris in 1900: "The estab-
lishments of the Institute of Brothers of the Christian
Schools, spread all
over the world,
number 2015.
They comprise
1.500 elementary
or high schools ; 47
important board-
ing-schools; 45
normal schools or
scholasticates for
the training of
subjects of the in-
stitute, and 6 nor-
mal schools for lay
teachers; 13 spe-
cial agricultural
schools, and
a large number
ofagricultural
classes in elemen-
tary schools; 4S
technical and
trade schools;
82 commercial
schools or special
commercial
courses."
Such was the activity of the Institute of St. John Baptist de La Salle when it was doomed in France by the legislation that abolished teaching by religious. Not the services rendered, nor the striking lustre of its success, nor the greatness of the social work it had accomplished, could save it. Its glory, which was to render all its schools Christian, was imputed to it as a crime. In consequence of the application of the law of 7 July, 1904, to legally authorized teaching congregations, 805 establishments of the Brothers were closed in 1904, 196 in 1905, 155 in 1906, 93 in 1907, and 33 in 1908. Nothing was spared. The popular and free schools to the number of more than a thousand ; the boarding and half-boarding schools such as Passy in Paris, those at Reims, Lyons, Bordeaux, Marseilles, etc. ; the cheap boarding schools for children of the working class, such as the admir- able houses of St. Nicholas, the technical and trade schools of Lyons, Saint-Eti(>nno, Saint-Chaniond, Coramentry, etc.; the agricultural in.stitutions of Beauvais, I>imoux, etc. — all were swept away. The blows were severe, but the beautiful free of the insti- tute had taken root too firmly in the .soil of the whole Catholic world to have its vitality endangered by the lopping off of a principal branch. The remaining branches receiverl a new afflux of sap, and on its vigorous trunk there soon ai)pear(Ml new branches. From 1904 to 1 90S, 222 houses have Ix'en founded in England, Belgium, the islands of the Mediterranean, the Levant, North and South America, the West Indies, Cape Colony, and Australia.
Sf'HOOLs OF EunopK AND THE East. — When their schools were suppressed by law in France, the Brothers
Brother Facile
Appointed Visitor of North America in
1848 and prominent in the develop-
ment of the Institute in the
United States
endeavoured with all their might to assure to at least
a portion of the children of the poor the religious
education of which they were about to be deprived.
At the same time the institute established near the
frontiers of Belgium and Holland, of Spain and Italy,
ten boarding-schools for French boys. The undertak-
ing was venturesome, but God has blessed it, and these
boarding-schools are all flourishing. Belgium has 75
establishments conducted by the Brothers, compris-
ing about 60 popular free schools, boarding-schools,
official normal schools, and trade schools known as
St. Luke schools. There are 32 houses in Lorraine,
Austria, Himgary, Bohemia, Galicia, Albania, Bul-
garia, and Rumania. Spain, including the Canaries
and the Balearic Isles, has 100 houses of the institute,
of which about SO are popular gratuitous schools.
In Italy there are 34 houses, 9 of which are in Rome.
The Brothers have been established over fifty years
in the Levant, Turkey, Syria, and Egypt. The 50
houses which they conduct are centres of Christian
education and influence, and are liberally patronized
by the people of these coimtries. The district of
England and Ireland comprises 25 houses, the Broth-
ers for the most part being engaged in the " National "
schools. In London they direct a college and an
academy; in Manchester, an industrial school; and
in Waterford, a normal school or training college,
the 200 students of which are King's scholars, who are
paid for by a grant from the British Government. In
India, the Brothers have large schools, most of which
have upwards of SOO jiupils. Those of Colombo,
Rangoon, Penang, Moiilmein, Mandalay, Singapore,
Malacca, and Hong Kong in China, stand high in pub-
he estimation. They are all assisted by government
grants.
Schools in America. — The institute has already established 72 houses in Mexico, Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Argentina, and Chile. When Brother Facile was appointed visitor of North America in 1S4S, he found in Canada 5 houses, 56 Brothers and 3200 pupils in their schools. In 1908, the statistics show 48 houses, and nearly 20,000 pupils. The parochial schools are gratuitous, according to the constant tradition of the institute. The most im- portant boarding-school is Mount St. Louis, Montreal. At the request of the Most Reverend Samuel Eccles- ton. Brother Philippe, superior general, sent three brothers to Baltimore in 1S46. The district of which Baltimore has become the centre now contains 24 houses, the Brothers of which for the most part are engaged in gratuitous parochial schools; they also conduct five colleges; a protectory; and the founda- tions of the family of the late Francis Anthony Drexel of Philadelphia, namely, St. Francis Industrial School, at Eddington, Pa.; the Drexmor, a home for working boys at Philadelphia; and the St. Emma Industrial and Agricultural College of Belmead, Rock Castle, Va., for coloured boys. The district of New York is the most important in America. It comprises 38 houses, most of the Brothers of which are engaged in teaching parochial gratuitous schools. In addition to these they conduct Manhattan College, the De La Salle Institute, La Salle .\cademy, and Clason Point Military Academy, in New York City, and academies and high schools in other important cities. The New York Catholic Protectory, St. Philiji's Home, and four orphan asyhmts and industrial schools under their care contain a population of 2500 children.
The district of St. Louis contains 19 houses, the majority of the Brothers of which are doing parochial school work. They conduct large colleges at St. Louis and Memphis, and important academies and high schools at Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Du- luth, St. Joseph, and Santa F6. They also have charge of the Osage Nation School for Indian boys at Gray Horse, Oklahoma. The district of San Fran- cisco comprises 13 houses, and as in the other dis-
