L0UZ8-BCABIS
384
LOmS-MAEIX
q)ouse to kill the other; (7) when husband or wife is a
fugitive from j ustice, chained with an infamous offence.
but proof of ^It must be made. For the first ana
second mentioned causes immediate divorce is
granted. For the other causes only a separation, which
ripens into a divorce at the expiration of one year on
the application of the plaintiff, provided no reconcilia-
tion has taken place, or also at the expiration of two
years on the application of the defendant.
Population. — ^The growth of population, as shown by the United States Census, is as follows: —
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
76,556
153.407
215,739
352,411
517.762
708.202
1870
1880
1890
1900
1906 (U. S. Census Est.)
726,916
940.236
1.118.587
1.381,625
1.539.449
Education. — ^The educational system of Louisiana is
under the control of the State Board of Education, and
subordinate boards in the various parishes (such being
the Louisiana name for counties):
Educable youth: white 275,087; coloured 221,714; total 490,801.
Enrolment in schools: white 163,603; coloured 80^28; total 243,731.
Teachers employed in public schools: white 4812; coloured 1168; total 5980.
Teachers employed in private schools 1125.
Pupils in private schools: white 36354; coloured 8646; total 45,000.
Number of public schools: white 2316; coloured 1167; total 3483.
Number of private schools: white 274; coloured 154; total 428.
Receipts from Public School Funds in 1907 (in- cluding $563,153.24 on hand, 1 January, 1907), $3,856,871.09; disbursements, $3,481,275.59.
At the head of the system is the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, the state capital, with 57 instructors and 657 students. Tulane University, in New Orleans, is a semi-official institution, with an endowment of $5,454,423.83, 225 instructors, and 1600 students. The public school system, besides pri- mary, grammar and nigh schools, includes the following institutions: — State Normal School, with 32 in- structors and 700 students; Audubon Sugar School for instruction in sugar making; three experimental stations for agricultural instruction; Ruston Indus- trial Institute, with 31 instructors and 500 students: Lafayette Industrial Institute, with IS instructors and 250 students; State Institute for Deaf and Dumb; State Institute for the Blind; Gulf Biologic Station, located on Gulf Coast; Southern University for col- oured youth J with 397 students.
FoRTiER, Htstqry of Louisiana (Paris. 1904); Report of Louis- iana Slate Superintendent of Education (1907); Report of Louis- iana Commissioner of Agriculture (1908); Bulletin No. 103 U. S. Census Bureau (1909); Jewish Year Book (1907); Catholic Di- rectory (1909): UATABR^, History of Louisiana (New Orloans, 1903).
James J. McLoughlin.
Louis-Marie Orignion de Montfort, Blessed, missionary in Brittany and Vendue; b. at Montfort, 31 January, 1673 ; d. at Saint-Laurent-sur-Scvre, 28 April, 1716. From his cliildhood, he was indefati- gably devoted to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and,'whcn from his twelfth year he was sent as a day pupil to the Jesuit college at Rennes, he never failed to visit the church before and aft«r class. He joined a society of young men who during holidays ministered to the poor and to the incurables in the hospitals, and read for them edifying books during their meals. At the age of nineteen, ho went on foot to Paris to follow the course in theology, gave away on the journey all his money to the poof, exchanged clothing ^ith t£em, and made a vow to subsist thenceforth only on alms.
He was ordained priest at the age of twenty-seven, and
for some time f ulnlled the duties of chaplain in a hos-
pital. In 1705, when he was thirty-two, he found his
true vocation, and thereafter devoted himself to
preaching to the people. During seventeen years he
preached the Gospel m countless towns and villages.
As an orator he was highly gifted, his language being
simple but replete with fire and divine love. His
whole life was conspicuous for virtues difficult for
modern degeneracy to comprehend: constant prayer^
love of the poor, poverty carried to an unheara-of de-
gree, joy in humiliations and persecutions. The fol-
lowing two instances will illustrate his success. He
once gave a mission for the soldiers of the garrison at
La Rochelle, and. moved by his words, the men wept,
and cried fdoud tor the forgiveness of their sins, in
the procession which terminated this mission, an
officer walked at the head, barefooted and carrying a
banner, and the soldiers, also barefooted, followed,
carrying in one hand a crucifix, in the other a rosary,
and singing hymns. Grignion's extraordinary influ-
ence was especially apparent in the matter of the
calvary at Pontch&teau. When he announced his de-
termination of building a monumental calvary on a
neighbouring hill, the idea was enthusiastically received by the inhabitants. For fifteen months be-
tween two and four hundred peasants worked daily
without recompense, and the task had iust been com-
pleted, when the king commanded uiat the whole
should be demolished,and the land restored to its former
condition. The Jansenists had convinced the Governor
of Brittany that a fortress capable of affording aid to
persons in revolt was being erected, and for several
months five hundred peasants, watched by a com-
pany of soldiers, were compelled to carry out the work
of destruction. Father de Montfort was not disturbed
on receiving this humiliating news, exclaiming only:
"Blessed be God 1"
This was by no means the only trial to which Grig- nion was subjected. It often happened that the Jan- senists, irritated by his success, secured by their in- trigues his banishment from the district, in which he was giving a mission. At La Rochelle some wretches put poison into his cup of broth, and, despite the antioote which he swallowed, his health was always impaired. On another occasion, some malefactors hid in a narrow street with the intention of assassinating him, but he had a presentiment of danger and escaped by going by another street. A year before his death. Father de Montfort founded two congregations — the Sisters of Wisaom, who were to devote themselves to hospital work and the instruction of poor ^rls, and the Com-
1>any of Mary, composed of missionaries. He had ong cherished these projects but circumstances had hindered their execution, and, humanly speaking, the work appeared to have failed at his death, since tliese congregations numbered respectively only four sis- ters and two priests with a few brothers. But the blessed founder, who had on several occasions shown himself possessed of the gift of prophecy, knew that the tree would grow. At the beginning of the twen- tieth century the Sisters of Wisdom numbered five thousand, and were spread throughout every- country; they possessed forty-four houses, and gave instruction to 60,000 children. After the death of its founder, the Company of Mary was governed for 39 years by Father M ulot. lie had at first refused to join de Mont- fort in his missionary labours. "I cannot become a missionarv ", said he, for I have been paralysed on one side ior years ; I have an affection of the lungs which scarcely allows me to breathe, and am indeed so ill that I have no rest day or night." But the holy man, impelled by a sudden inspiration, replied, ^As soon as you begin to preach you will be completely cured." And the event justified the preaictioo. Grignion de Montfort was beatified by Leo XIII in 1888.
