Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/399

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LORBTO


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LOBBTTO


inner life. In the practice of the religious virtues St. Lorenzo equals the great^t saints. He had to a high degree the gift of contemplation, and very rarely cele- brated Hohr Mass without falling into ecstasies. After the Holy Sacrifice, his great devotion was the Rosary and the Office of the Ble^ed Virgin. As in the case of St. Francis of Assisi, there was something poetical about his piety, which often burst forth into canticles to the Blessed Virgin. It was in Mary's name that he worked his miracles, and his favourite blessing was: "Nos cum prole pia benedicat Virgo Maria". Having withdrawn to the monastery of Caserta in 1618, Lorenzo was hoping to enjoy a few days of seclusion, when he was requested by the leading men of Naples to go to Spain and apprise Philip III of the conduct of Viceroy Ossima. In spite of many obstacles raised by the latter, the saint sailed from Genoa and carried out his mission successfully. But the fatigues of the journey exhausted his feeble strength. He was unable to travel homeward^ and after a few days of great suffering died at Lisbon in the native land of St. Anthony f22 July, 1619), as he had predicted when he set out on his j oumey . The process of beatification, several times interrupted by various circumstances, was concluded in 1783. The canoni- sation took place on 8 December, 1881. His feast is kept on 6 July. The known writings of St. Lorenzo of Brindisi comprise eight volumes of sermons, two didactic treatises on oratory, a commentary on Genesis, another on Ezechiel, and three volumes of religious polemics. Most of his sermons are written in Italian, the other works being in Latin. The three volumes of controversies have notes in Greek and Hebrew.

Annalea Min. Capuc., Ill (Lyons, 1676); Anal. Ord. Min. Capuc., Ill, IX. XII sq.; Acta SS.^ 6 July; Erardo da Rad- KXRSPUROO, Vila del heato Lorenzo da Brindiai (Rome, 1783); NoRBERT Stock, Lorem von Brindisi, Ft. tr. Rungo (Paris, 1881). Cf. (Euvrea de S. Fr. de Sales: Eloge funkhre du Due de

F. Candide. Loreto. See Recanati and Loreto, Diocese of.

Loreto, Holy House op. See Santa Casa.

Lorette, full name, Notre-Dame de la Jeune Lorette, **Our Lady of New Loreto"; an Indian village occupied by the principal remnant of the an- cient Huron tribe on the east bank of Saint Charles River, about eight miles north-west from the city of Quebec in Canada. Population in 1908, not including fifty-five Indians of other tribes under the same agency jurisdiction, four hundred and seventy-four souls. According to Father Jones, the historiog- rapher of the Huron missions, the Indians of Lorette are the true representatives of the original Hurons, while the modern Wyandot of Ontario and Oklahoma are descended from the kindred Tionontati, or Petuns.

On the dispersion of the Hurons and their allies by the Iroquois in 1648-9 a considerable body of fugitives was gathered by the missionaries upon St. Joseph, now Christian, Island, off the shore of Nottawasaga Bay. Wasted by famine and the lurking Iroquois their stay here was short, and in the summer of 1650, to the number of about three hundred Indians, besides sixty French, including the missionaries and their as- sistants, they removed to Quebec and were quartered by the Jesuits at Beauport adjoining the city, where other Huron refugees nad been settled the previous year. In the spring of 1651 they removed to Orleans Island, near Quebec, where they were joined by other fugitives, including a large party of Huron exiles from the distant western Islancf of Manitoulin. In 1656 they numbered altogether between five hundred and six nundred, but in July of that year, in consequence of a sudden destructive inroad of the Mohawk, they again fled to Quel^ec, whence they sent deputies to the whawk begging for peace. This was granted on con- dition that the Hurons would remove to the Mohawk


country and incorporate with that or some other Iro- quois tribe, as a considerable part of the Hurons had already done in the earlier wars. Of the three Huron sub-tnbes then represented at Quebec, two, the Rock and the Bear, accepted the terms, and were incorpo- rated with the Iroquois. The third sub-tribe, the Cord, of the old mission town of Teananstaya^, or Saint Joseph, refused to leave the French and continued at Quebec. In 1659 a party of forty of their warriors to- gether with twenty-three French and Algonkin, was cut off by an overwhelming force of Iroquois, after holding out for ten days, at the Long Sault of Ottawa River, above Montreal . In 1666 peace came for a time and the distressed Hurons once more ventured outside the walls of Quebec. In 1669 they were established by Father Chaumonot in a new mission settlement which received the name of Notre-Dame de Foye (now Sainte Foye) about five miles outside the city. Hie mission itself was dedicated to the Annunciation. The village grew, being now considerably recruited by Christian Iroquois, until, finding themselves cramped for both land and timber, they removed in 1673 to a new site about nine miles west of Quebec. Here was built a chapel modelled after the Holy House of Lo- reto and the village took the name of Notre-Dame de (Vieille) Lorette. In 1697 the final remove was made to their present location.

In 1794 the last Jesuit missionary in charge died and was succeeded by a secular priest. In 1829 the last fiUl-blood Indian died and a few years later the laneua^ itself became extinct in the settlement, all the iimabi- tants now speaking French. The population for 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, and 1908 was officially reported re- spectively at 329, 280, 293, 449, and 474. Of their present condition the agent in charge re^rts (1908): The special industry of the Hurons, that is to say, the making of snow-shoes and moccasins, during the first part of the twelve months just passed was not flourii^ mg. The demand has decreased and the trade this year is almost nil. The heads of families on the re- serve are obliged in order to support their families to go off to a distance in order to earn money in the sur- rounding towns. The Indians engage but little in fishing, as fish have not been abundant. On the other hand they have done a good deal of hunting and this has been both successful and remunerative. The prices of fur are very hi^h. The Hurons cannot be re- proached with uncleanhness. Nothing but praise can oe given in regard to temperance. As for morality, I observe that the Hurons do not deserve any reproach. (The preceding is a condensation of the report.) An eflEicient and appreciated school is in charge of the Sisters of Perpetual Help. All but seven are Catho- lic. (See Hurons.)

Canadian Indian Reports (Ottawa); Jesuit Relations (French ed.. (Quebec; English cd., Tuwaitbs. Cleveland); Shka, CoCA. Jnd. Missions (New York, 1855).

James Moonet.

Loretto, Sisters of, at the Foot of the Cross. — The Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross were foimded in Kentucky, in 1812, by Father Charles Ne- rinckx, who first called them "The Little Society of the P>iends of Mary at the Foot of the Cross of Jesus". The Holy See approved the institute under the title: The Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Ooss. The special work to which the Sisters devote tJieir lives is Cihristian education. Amid the rude conditions of life in Kentucky during the first decade of the nineteentii century, the pioneer missionaries, Fathers Stephen Theodore Badin and Charles Nerinclcc, realized the necessity for schools conducted by trained Christian teachers. It was practically impossible for them to brin^ such teachers from Europe or elsewhere, but the possibility remained of finding the means to establish such schools without going abroad. The Catholic colonists in Kentucky were in general good people, some of them eminently virtuous. Strong practu^