The Anti-Clerical Policy in France

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 15, 9 April 1903, Page 4

The Anti-Clerical Policy in France

A French Protestant contributes to ' Le Journal de Pebats ' a powerful article, in which he forcibly demonstrates the danger to French interests abroad that the blind folly of the present persecuting and anti-religrous government is exposing the nation. Alter waimly eulogising the work of the religious Older s all o\er the world, and paying a just tribute to their large-hearted tolerance of all creeds, who equally shaie the benefit of their labors, he says : 'To. give an idea of the blighting loss which this new Radical syllabus will inflict on the French nation it is sufficient to supply a few ligures Jn China the unauthorised Congregations possess 12 hospitals and 1415 schools, orphanages, and colleges, frequented by 25,000 children. In Armenia they ha\e 8 hospitals, 15 schools, and 2911 pupils In the island of La. Sonde 4 hospitals and 222 schools, with 12,4.*W pupils. In/ L'Fjmyrne, on the central platomi of Madagascar, 2051 schools, with 99,214 pupils ; also an astronomical observatory of high repute, and two hospitals, of which one is for leprosy. At Ceylon they have '.\7 schools, with I. 'WO scholars ; two industrial schools, two hospitals, and two dispensaries. 3n Syria they have 198 schools and 14.270 pupils, one hospital, and the celebrated University of Beyrouth, founded under the auspices of Cambetfa, and larcrelv subsidised by the Kieneh Government In Mesopotamia there is the deleg.it ion of the IToly See, 89 schools or colleges, with 0000 pupils the Syro-Chaldaic seminary of Mossoul, the Ecole \'ormale of Monsignor Yacoub, the Apostolic Delegation of Bagdad, and 8 hospitals, where in 1899 more than 80,000 invalids were taken care of. At Jerusalem there is trip famous school of biblical studies, the publications of which are regarded as n n authority. It is to all savants, of whatever creed or natienalitv, and for two years past Trench Protestants have there pei fed <>d themselves in Oriental subjects, in company with (Jerman students sent by the professors of the University of Leipzig. To continue to cito ' These Works of Charity or political influence, there is the custody of the IToly Land, whirh is placed under the French protectorate, and of which the Vioar-Cust odian is always French. At Jerusalem there is the hosteliy for French pilgrims, and two schools kept by the nuns of Notre Dame de Sion In Egypt there are the 155 schools of the Coptic mission, with 2000 pupils and a hospital ; in Trij oli the Schools of the Marist nuns. mostW Msatians where the education given is of the highest order. The 22 schools of the Gallas country, and of Arabia, with their seven

orphanages and dispensaries ; the 13 schools and six dispensaries of the Nile delta ; the school of Pireus, and that of Naxos. j ' Turning to the north along the eastern basin *of the Mediterranean, we find. the Seminary of St. Louis; the schools and seminaries of Koum-Keut, of Phanaraki, and of Haida-Pasha ; on the coast of Asia the schools of Kara Agaicht, near Adrianople ; the college and school of Philipopolis ; the schools of Yamboli, of Narna, and of Gallipopoli. The list is already long, but is far from being exhaustive. To render it anything like complete, it would be necessary to cross the ocean and visit the Sandwich Jsles, lahiti, and the Marquises, where the Fathers of the Sacred Coeur, of Picpus. have 68 schools, with 3371 I'Upils, and four hospitals, of which the famous one for lepers has been rendered illustrious by The Devotion of Father Damien ; to visit the islands of Samoa, Fiji, and Solomon ; to sail to New Caledonia, Hhe New Hebrides, and New Zealand, where the Mardsts have 229 schools and orphanages, and six hospitals. Then to approach New Guinea and the isles of Gilbert and Ellice, where the Fathers of the Sacre Cceur of Issandun direct 84 schools, with 3052 pupils. Thence to travel to South Africa, where the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales of Troyes- have eight schools and two dispensaries ; to penetrate Natal, where the Oblates of Mary Immaculate have 56 schools or orphanages, and five hospitals or dispensaries. Next to turn towards the Niger and Dahomey, with oil the region of the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast, and the Gulf of Benin, in order to appreciate the invaluable co-operatioir- which Is lent to French interests and administration by the religious of the African Mission from Lyons, with their 88 schools frequented by 3525 pupils, their seven schools of agriculture, their 24 hospitals, including four for leprosy, and their two asylums for the aged and infirm. ' Again, we must cross the Atlantic and disembark, at Brazil, where the Dominicans from Toulouse have three important posts ; to journey to Peru and Chili, to the important colleges of Lima and Valparaiso, kept by the Fathers of Picpus ; the seminary of San Bernardo, and the schools directed by the French Redemptorists. Finally, having again touched the equator at Trinidad, to direct one's steps to North America, where one will find still more numerous traces of French enterprise. ' In Canada the Oblates of Mary alone direct 213 establishments, schools, and hospitals, which largely contribute to maintain amongst French Canadians the ties of language and tradition -which attach them to the mother country. In the United States there are the Dominicans, the Benedictines, the Marists, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, and the Endists — but why concontinue ? The figures already given, though far from complete, are sufficiently significant, and serve to prove conclusively that the loss to France caused by the refusal of authorisation to the religious Orders will be irreparable, and the blow thus struck at French influence all over the world mortal. ' It is not to say that these thousands of schools founded by the demotion of our religious Orders will disappear Oh ' no. There are plenty of people in the world to profit by our faults and lollies Only the spirit will be changed ; and while up to this time France has benefited iiy the labors of the Orders, for the future Italy, Germany, 'England, and the United States will leap the harvest piepaied by our French and once again we tha.ll ha\e labored " pour le roi de Prusse." '