Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and EducationAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and Education
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
France -- Church history -- 19th century; Italy -- Church history -- 19th century
A little book which Monsignor de Bervanger gave us contains a pretty
full account of this institution, from which I have taken many
particulars given above. He observed that an Englishman not long
before had paid them several visits. He was most struck by the terms
of intimacy in which the masters lived with the pupils. This has also
struck me pointedly wherever I have seen educational institutions in
France. There the wall of separation does not seem to exist, which
shuts out the English tutor or master from the real state of his
pupil's mind, from his prevailing habits, and natural tone of thought.
With us, the boy before his master, and the boy by himself or with his
schoolfellows, are two beings wholly distinct. Seldom, indeed, can the
tutor get at the real living soul with whom he has to deal; still
seldomer mould and direct the development of his moral powers. It is,
to the best of my belief, a _generic_ difference between Anglican and
Roman Catholic education.
As we were walking home, M. Farel told me that in the diocese of
Langres alone there were five hundred institutions of Sisters of
Charity. "Do you not mean," I said, "five hundred Sisters?" "No," he
replied; "not a commune is without them." I asked to how many
several parent houses they might belong: he said, to about five. Thus
the Sisters of S. Vincent de Paul only form a portion of those
dedicated to this work.
_Friday, Aug. 11._--I copied the rest of the account of the cure
which happened to the novice at the Rue du Bac. The Sisters asked me
if I had seen the child who was cured of blindness. I said I had, and
that she seemed to me of very limited intelligence, and extremely
simple. One of them answered, "Yes; I asked her what she thought when
she recovered her sight, to which she replied, 'C'était drôle à
voir.'" While I was sitting among a number of the Sisters of Charity
transcribing the account, their great cheerfulness--one might almost
call it merriment--of tone was remarkable; they were those engaged in
the general management of the house at the Secrétariat. There is
something too in their faces which indicates inward peace. They look
happy. I took the opportunity of reading the pastoral letter of the
Abbé Etienne, their superior general, in which the account of the
cures was contained. It was written to encourage them amid the
unsettled state of public affairs. He reminded them that the
Revolution of 1830 opened with a much more threatening aspect towards
religion; and yet the period of eighteen years which they had since
passed through had been one of unexampled progress and prosperity to
their Institution. The times in which their founder S. Vincent
de Paul lived were likewise most unsettled, but he only saw in that a
larger opportunity for charitable exertions; he had promised his
children, that so long as they were faithful to their rules the Divine
protection should never fail them, and God had, beyond doubt, granted
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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