87 CHAPTER VI. RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. It would not be possible to give within the compass of these pages the rise, progress, and extent of the religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church. Every talent committed by God to mankind found in them scope for use. Each one is placed in that sphere of labour for which they are most fitted. A general list of them appended to this work will give some idea of how extensive and varied are their objects*. Here we must confine ourselves exclusively to those connected with the care of hospitals+. Even in the earliest times, when the general character of religious orders was contemplative rather than active, we find that no convent was without its hospital for the poor of the neighbourhood; but the first Order which we find exclusively founded for hospitals, are the Hospitalières, who follow the rule of St. Augustine, and were appointed to the care of the Hôtel Dieu at Paris. It was St. Landry, the twenty-eighth Bishop of Paris, who built this hospital adjoining St. Christopher's Church, and it belonged to the Bishops of Paris till the time of * See note E. The following account is translated and compiled chiefly from the 'Encyclopédie Théologique,' par M. l'Abbaye Migne, and the 'Histoire des Ordres Religieux,' par M. Henrion. Bishop Raynaud, in the reign of Robert. This bishop. gave half of it to the canons of the Cathedral, and Bishop William, in 1097, made over the entire jurisdiction of the Hôtel Dieu to the Chapter of Notre Dame, who have governed it ever since. Dean Stephen, in 1217, revived the statutes. Two canons were appointed by the Chapter to maintain proper discipline. For the sick there were thirty-eight monks and twenty-five nuns; of these thirty-eight four were priests, and four were candidates for holy orders; the rest were laymen. One was elected as master. He vowed obedience to the Chapter, who had the power to dismiss him at pleasure. This body attended matins, mass, and vespers, unless they were engaged with the sick. The hospital has always been under the care of religious women. Formerly a novitiate of twelve years was required. It was reduced to seven years about 1636. Like every other human institution, it has been liable to abuses, which have been reformed from time to time. It was in this hospital that the Sisters of St. Vincent of Paul begun that work which has since extended over the world. In the beginning of the seventeenth century they were reformed by their superior, Madame Geneviève Banquet ; she was the daughter of a jeweller in Paris, who placed her, when very young, about Queen Margaret. But her love to God made her withdraw from the world, and she decided to adopt a religious life. Her first idea was to join the Order of St. Claire; but her attachment to the Hôtel Dieu and its sick, led her there at the age of twenty-two, though owing to the length of the novitiate she could not take the vows for twelve years; and she even wished to delay it further, thinking that no one ought to hasten into the service of the Hôtel Dieu. Moreover, the novices were very imperfectly trained, and her first care, after her own profession, was to remedy this evil, and to collect the novices for instruction, so that she was appointed mistress of the novices. When the plague appeared in Paris, she was sent to assist in the Hospital of St. Louis, where, amongst other reforms, she obtained leave to erect an altar in each ward. On her return to the Hôtel Dieu she took each department in turn, and finally very reluctantly accepted the office of Superior; and whilst she held this situation, she effected many changes, which added to the comfort of the sick, and the welfare of the whole body. She died suddenly on the eveof St. John's day, 1665, at the age of seventy-four, as she was engaged in prayer with the community. The nuns have also the care of the Hospital of St. Louis, which was founded by Henry IV. for the victims of the plague. At the present day, though it is chiefly intended for the treatment of cutaneous diseases and scrofula, it receives also cases of acute disorders and surgical cases. It contains 825 beds, and has a large bathing establishment for in- and out-door patients, the average annual number of whom are 9000. At the time of the Revolution, though some left Paris, the greater part of the nuns remained in the Hôtel Dieu, prosecuting their labours amongst the sick, and patiently enduring the insults to which they were subject in that lawless time. The Dames de St. Augustine have likewise charge of the Hôpital de la Charité and the Hôpital de la Pitié, thus making four in Paris. They each have their superior, but consider themselves one large family; and their united numbers, in 1848, were sixty-five professed nuns and twenty-six novices. In Burgundy the hospitals are served by Hospitallers, known as Filles de Marthe, who derive their origin from the Béguines of Malines. The oldest and largest of these hospitals is at Beaune; it was founded in 1443, by Nicholas Rolin, Chancellor of Philip the Good, who brought six Béguines from Malines for the purpose. There is one long hall for the sick poor of all nations; at the end of this hall is a chapel, so arranged that all the sick can see the altar. Behind the altar is another hall for severe cases. On the south side of this hall is a square court, sur rounded with upper and lower galleries. Along the former are apartments for the neighbouring aristocracy, who avail themselves of the hospital, where they are as comfortable as in their own châteaux. Each of these apartments consists of a bed-room, ante-room, dressing-room, and closets. Each room has in it three beds, that the invalid may be moved as circumstances may require. They are well furnished, and each has its own plate and linen. Each apartment has its name. The inmates board themselves, pay for their medicines, and generally leave some thank-offering for the poor. The lower galleries have rooms for the middling classes, where the sick are attended at the expense of the hospital, and only have to provide for any extra expenses. The river Bourgeoise, which rises close by, runs through the court, and is carried through all the offices, greatly adding to the cleanliness of the hospital. Next to Beaune, Châlons-sur-Saône has the finest hospital; it was built in 1528. In the winter perfumes are continually burnt there, and in the summer vases of all kinds of flowers are hung from the ceiling. There is the same arrangement as at Beaune for the reception of different classes. The number of hospitals in Burgundy is daily increasing, and all are under the care of the Sisters, who are untiring in their labours. They only take vows of obedience for the time during which they remain in the hospital, and are free to leave it whenever they like. The Ursulines, like the Augustines, Franciscans, and Benedictines, have many Orders under the same rule, and like them have secular sisters of the third rule, who take no vows, and live either in a community or at home as they like; and it was a sisterhood of the latter kind which Angela de Brescia instituted in 1537, with the intention that the sisters should live in the world, and perform in their own homes the works of charity she should point out to them. They afterwards joined together and lived in community, finding that by so doing they could attain a greater degree of perfection; and at the present time there are more than three hundred and fifty convents of the Ursuline Order under different names. Angela was born at Desenzano, on the Lake of Garda, and having early lost her parents, she was brought up by an uncle, who, pious himself, left her at liberty to continue her devotions with an elder sister, to whom she was tenderly attached. Their lives were spent in prayer and meditation. Angela's first sorrow was the death of her sister, to whom she looked for guidance in everything;it was her first call to give up her will to God, and she obeyed the call. After the death of her sister she increased her devotions, and adopted first the third rule of St. Francis, and then that of St. Augustine. She travelled to the Holy Land to see all the scenes of our Saviour's life, and then went to Rome. It was on her return to Brescia in 1537, at the age of twenty-six, that she commenced her grand work. It was at the time when a strong feeling had been roused against conventual life, and all her efforts were directed against the sins of the day; and it was with a view of being better able to bring souls to the knowledge of the truth, that the Sisters lived in the world, and tried by their example to win souls. It was their business to seek out the afflicted, to comfort them and teach them, to visit hospitals and nurse the sick, and to undertake in short every act of charity which might present itself;-and foreseeing the great changes that were at hand, she inserted in the rules of the Order that they should be free to act according to the need of the age. Seventy-three young women came into the institution at its opening, devoting themselves to the glory of God. and the good of their fellow creatures, and the effect upon Brescia was very striking Faith revived and a general desire to help the poor and instruct the ignorant was manifested. Carlo Borromeo sent for the Ursuline Sisters to Milan. They were established at Avignon in 1572, by Frances de Bermond, and they spread over France and Italy in different forms. Madame St. Beuve |