CHRISTIAN BROTHERS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 136, 10 December 1875, Page 13

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS.

A BEMAEKABLE ORDER, OF EDUCATOES — COXI/EGES, ACADEMIES, AND SCHOOLS — WORK OP THE BROTHERS IN BROOKLYN. One of the most popular religious orders of the Catholic Church in the United States is that of the Christian Brother?. The iSistoi sof Charity and Sisters of Mercy have, by their noble self-sacrifice, won the praises of distinguished men of every religious persuasion, but even these devoted friends and servants of the poor cannot claim the popularity and influence of the followers of the venerable De Ln fcalle. The educational triumphs of the Christian Brothers in this country during the past twenty years might seem incredible if they were not attested by facts which cannot be disputed, and by eminent educators and journalists of every religious denomination, and every shade of politics. SKETCH OP TnE ORDER I>f AMERICA. Thirty-six years ago four French Brothers opened their first ► .school on the American Continent, in Montreal, with an attendance of two hundred pupils Tlieir first establishment in the United States was opened at .Baltimore in 1846, and was opened in New York in ] 848. In this country alone they are educating sixty thousand pupils. There are at present in Canada 240 brothers, 45 novices, and 25 houses. In the United States there are 600 Brothers, 300 novices, and 52 houses; and in the Republic of Ecuador, 45 Brothers, <L 0 novices, and 6 houses. The government of the institution in Americais divided into six provinces — Canada, New York, Baltimore, St. Louis, New Mexico, California, and Ecuador. After the lapse of a few years the number of provinces will bo ten. Though the Brothers devote their lives chiefly to the education of the children of the poor, they have colleges endowed with university privileges in all the groafc cities of the Union. lUANnATTAX COLLEGE, in New York, is one of the most flourishing and progressive of their higher institutions of learning. It is the only Catholic college in tho State unencumbered by debt— an incontestable proof of the thorough education imparted in it , and of the generous patronage bestowed upon it by the public. A degree obtained in this popular seat of leeming is valued as a high honor, because it is the reward of merit alone. Academic honors have never been prostituted in Manhattan College. Only one gentleman has received the degree of LL.I). since its foundation — Bishop Evan, of St. Louis, the great pulpit orator of tho West. _ Chancellors Pruyn and Wctmorc, of the University of the State of New York, have more than once borne generous testimony to the high literary and scientific standing of Manhattan College. The president is the Provincial of the New York province, Brother Paulian, a gentleman well fitted by nature and education to govern successfully a flouri.-hing seat of learning. PAROCniAL SCnOOLn. The Brothers conduct fourteen parochial schools and three paying academies in New York. The annual income of each Brother engaged in the parochial schools never exceeds ?40<J— a mere pittance, scarcely sufficient for the humblest food and raiment. If the Brothers did not live in communities, they would not, be able to subsist on the small salaries they receive. Among the parochial schools, one of the most successful in tho thorough instruction imparted in it is reputed to be St. Gabriel's, Ea&t Thirty-sixth Street. " I fearlessly assert," said Commissioner Wood, of the Board of Education, a few weeks ' ngo, "that the high and thorough education imparted in St. Gabriel's surpasses that of any school in New York." Tho only school conducted by the Brothers in Brooklyn is St. Jamc-', Jay street. It, is the oldest Catholic male school on Long Island, and has always ranked high among the best schools in Brooklyn. THE CATHOLIC PKOTECTORY is healthily situated in Westchester County, and is said to be tlie greatest charitable institution on the American continent. Within its walls 1,500 poor boys are trained, in various industrial departments, to be good and useful citizens. Distinguished Protestant gentlemen have again and again borne willing testimony to the excellent trainhy received by tho inmates of this admirable institution. "During my experience," said Police Justice Kasniire, a few days ago, "no graduate of the Protectory has been ever sent to the penitentiary." The institution has been conducted tinee its foundation by the Christian Brothers. The rector, Brother Teliow, a gentleman of great administrative abilities, has, in the face of a thousand obstacles and difficulties, made it the grandest and most, succi-sbful asylum of charity on this continent. Not far distant from the Protectory is the Novitiate 0 of the Order, in which over eighty young novices are earefullv , educated for the arduous mission of teaching. THE SECRET of the success of the Christian Brothers as educators is a system of education which the experience of two centuries has almost perfected. Devoting their whole lives to teaching, their success in communicating knowledge to tho young, maintaining order, and enforcing discipline in the class-room, without corporal punishment which is strictly prohibited by the rules of their founder, has not been equalled by any other Order in the Catholic Church. Keenly alive to the wants of the age, and thoroughly awake to the aspirations of the American mind, they are equally popular amou«Protestants and Catholics.—' Catholic Sentinel/ °

A valuable relic of O'Connell and Catholic Emancipation is now on new at Mr. Kelly's in Dublin. It consists of a thick folio volume containing 296 letters from various political personages, being their replies to t lie secretary of the committee which organized the creat Protestant meeting for Catholic Emancipation, held in the Rotundo in 1829. The price asked for the volume is fifty-five pounds. The Catholic Phesb.— The Vienna 'Vaterland' was lately confiscated three times, and at Prague severnl of the Catholic papers arc regularly sequestrated, the only reason which can be imagined being their comments on Prince Bismarck and on the attitude of the Austrian and Hungarian Ministers, which is not verr favourable to the Church.