With the breaking up of the Feudal System and the advent of modern commercial activities, a great change took place in the organization of Society. Under this system a community was, as has been indicated, made up in such a manner that the whole body formed, so to speak, one family, having mutual interests; each individual performing those functions--for the benefit of the whole--for which he was, as a general rule, best fitted. The most warlike, sagacious, executive--those, in short, who were best capacitated for leaders and protectors, being at the head, and looking after the welfare of the whole; while others occupied such stations and rendered such services as their qualifications made them adequate to, in subordination to these leaders. Thus the interests of community were linked immediately together. They formed a grand Coöperative Association, in which each member recognized his obligations to the whole body of associates, and to every individual associate, _and measurably fulfilled those obligations as they were understood at that day_. The poor were not left to fall into starvation and misery for the want of work; there were no paupers; and the rich and powerful classes did not neglect the affairs of the indigent and weak as those who had no claim upon them. On the contrary, they felt that mankind were the children of one Father, and their brethren. They felt that their superior powers devolved upon them accompanying responsibilities; that because they were comparatively far seeing and strong, they were bound by all the nobler sentiments of manhood to watch over and guide the short sighted and the feeble. Under the inspiration of the Catholic Church--a Church whose persistent efforts were ever devoted in a marked degree to the amelioration of the physical no less than the spiritual conditions of humanity, a Church which strove in the darkest hours of its history and always to stand between the helpless and suffering and their oppressors--they accepted this office and fulfilled its functions. To the beat of their understanding--with the light they then had, considering the times in which they lived, and the state of the world's progress--they executed well and faithfully the duties which pertained to it. Far better, indeed, as we shall presently see, than the opulent and powerful perform the same duties in our day.