feel confident that our friends will be interested. As soon as our numbers permit we shall arrange for parish visiting committees, but at all times there will be members in attendance at the headquarters, and all applications sent there, or made in person will be promptly attended to.

A staff of district trained nurses will be engaged as soon as contributions warrant this. Thus our poor patients will not only have the benefit of nourishment, medicine, physicians' care, but the attendance of competent nurses an exceptionally important point in the care of the sick. In the direction of our work we shall endeavor to act on lines of prudence, though always inspired by charity. While we deprecate any system that plays detective on the applicant for relief, and while we desire that not one individual will be under a sense of humiliation that too often accompanies so-called charity, we shall endeavor to avoid false charity, nor shall we encourage idleness in any form. We shall strive to teach lessons of cleanliness and thrift, and where we find that poverty and sickness are the result of enforced idleness, we shall try to secure employment for such people.

Our article has grown beyond intended limits, but there is one feature that we must add. In connection with the work outlined in this paper and that of March, we propose to labor for the poor little first Communicants. How natural it is for the little ones to desire an outfit for the happy day when they are first admitted to the Holy Communion! And how natural for the poor mother to to wish her child as well attired as others! We propose under ST. JOSEPH'S PATRONAGE, to gratify the poor child and the mother too, and fitting we believe it to be, to put the little ones under the care of the dear Saint to whom was committed the keeping of our Infant Lord. Thus they may be taught from their tenderest years to seek for the true love of Jesus and Mary from him who, as St. Alphonsus Liguori says, teaches this of special right. Thus they may learn, in their first Communion, to ask his powerful aid during life and that in their dying hour he may again bring their Lord and Master to them. Thus the seed will be planted of a true devotion to St. Joseph that will endure through life and find its crown in the hour of death. Too many, alas! never think of hiin except when the gathering shadows tell of the night. Not so with our little first Communicants. From the beginning they will know him; in life they will love him; in death. he will defend them.

Behold the harmony of our work and how consistent this fea

ture is with our main purpose. Tender charity inspires it and that delicacy too for human feelings, mingling with zeal for the house of the Lord in the living tabernacle of the young soul, that are the bloom and fragrance of God's own love.

Again, we ask what say you, readers of THE ROSARY? How many will respond to this appeal in St, Joseph's name, and for his little ones and for God's own suffering poor and dying?

Send in your names. Join us in our efforts. Every name means a new worker. Every dollar or dime contributed represents solid charity that will yet bring a rain of blessings on the giver. Much remains to be done. A noble work will be accom plished, but we need help. To all Catholics we appeal, but with special trust, the clients of St. Joseph stretch out their hands and lift up their voices to the lovers of our Lady. Her Magazine carries the message, and may it go to every heart! Rosarians, we await your answers.

ESTAVAYER-A SWISS SANCTUARY.

BY REV. D. J. KENNEDY O. P., S. T. L.

(Conclusion.)

During the last mentioned trial the sisters had acquired much merit in the sight of God, but the persuasion daily grew stronger that it would be good to have a director who understood the rules and customs of the order, and finally letters were sent to Rome asking for a Dominican confessor and director. The authorities could not immediately grant the request; moreover the matter was not so easy of arrangement as the good sisters imagined. They had ever remained firmly devoted to the Order but "accomplished facts" must be reckoned with even in ecclesiastical law, and the Order was not in the position, even if it desired, to wage its claims to the direction of Estavayer's community. It must be borne in mind that at this time the Order had not yet been re-established in France. But soon Pere Lacordaire and his devoted followers were clothed with the white robe of St. Dominic, and in sunny Italy were preparing to accomplish great things for the good of the Church in their native land. The duties of his position several times obliged

Father Lacordaire to make the journey between Italy and France. He had heard of the sisters at Estavayer and, at their request, visited the convent early in the forties. What joy, what a feast. for the sisters! A Dominican priest had not been seen there since their director left them before the revolution! The renown of Lacordaire had penetrated even into their quiet cloister, and here they beheld him, in the flower of health, full of enthusiasm and zeal for religion and for the Order that he had recently joined! The old priests of the neighborhood still tell of the happiness of the sisters; they add to their account of his reception certain details that must be regarded as embellishments, but it is certain that there had not been such rejoicing in the convent since the time of St. Vincent Ferrer's visit in the fifteenth century. There is still living one octogenarian who was in the convent when Pere Lacordaire, with the Bishop's permission, entered the cloister and addressed to the sisters eloquent words of advice and encouragement. Two others-nonagenarians they who had witnessed the happy event, were carried away by the influenza during the winter of 1889-90. The sisters urged their petition for a confessor of the Order, but the French Dominicans were then few in numbers and even more subjects than they could dispose of would be needed for the great work to be accomplished in France. They were obliged therefore, to wait and hope and pray.

In 1848 came the "Sonderbund", or Swiss civil war. Through the weakness and treachery of one who shamefully abandoned the traditions of his forefathers the radicals of Berne succeeded in capturing Fribourg, the capital city of the canton that bears the same name. The Jesuits and Cistercians were driven from their homes and country, and though other religious communities were not disturbed there seemed to be persecution in the air. In 1874 the Jesuits were by a federal law banished from the territory of Switzerland. A clause in the iniquitous decree guaranteed the safety of existing convents of other orders, but forbade the foundation of new convents, and was on the whole rather unfavorable to the sojourn in Switzerland of any religious not belonging to an authorized community. Still, individual religious were not absolutely prohibited from remaining, and in due time the sisters. of Estavayer renewed their efforts to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Order.

In 1874 Father Jandel, Master General of the Order, was advised by his physicians to spend a few months in Switzerland

in the hope of obtaining some relief from the malady that had long been undermining his health. He, too, visited Estavayer, and the sisters renewed their request with increased earnestness; but it was not possible or not expedient to make the change at that time. However, the matter was not allowed to rest there, and finally in 1877, in obedience to an order that came directly from Pope Pius IX of happy memory,* Father San Vito, Vicar General of the Order, sent to Estavayer Pere Barthier, a French Dominican, who still administers to the spiritual wants of the community, and has also succeeded in making some desired improvements in the little convent chapel, which is now very neatly arranged and handsomely decorated.

Here we leave the good sisters to continue in solitude and in peace the observance of their rules and customs. They little suspect that the American public is to be informed of their existence, and would tremble with pious scruples if they heard that several articles had appeared in THE ROSARY, giving an account of their glorious history. If there be such a thing as excessive love of retirement and humility and of remaining unknown the traditions of Estavayer tend to that extreme. In some respects this is to be regretted, for an authentic verification of certain extraordinary occurences would have contributed greatly to the edification of the Christian world. For instance, in the early part of this century the reparation and extension of a portion of the convent necessitated the removal of a number of bodies from a corner of the modest little cemetery. All necessary permissions were easily obtained, especially as it was thought that there would be nothing to remove except perhaps a few bones that had not yet crumbled into dust. When the graves were opened several bodies that had been buried for more than two hundred years were found to be so well preserved that they actually bled when touched with a sharp instrument! Unfortunately no authentic process was ever drawn up and approved, and we are obliged to inform our readers that since the authorities of the church were never called upon to pronounce judgment on this extraordinary occurence, we merely relate it, confident, however, that we have every reason to respect and accept the record.

*The holy Pontiff said that, since it was traditional for the sisters to have a confessor of their Order, and as they had been deprived of that happiness only on account of the misfortunes of the times, they should again enjoy that privilege.

Another touching incident is related in connection with the departure of Mgr. Marilley for exile in 1848. One of the consequences of the civil war and overthrow of the legitimate Catholic government was the decree which sent into exile the venerable Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva* who would not yield to the impious demands of the radicals who had seized the reins of government. Before departing he went to say farewell to his children of Estavayer and recommend himself and his diocese to the prayers of the sisters. The community then as now numbered forty, and amongst the forty were several who were more than seventy years of age. They were all disconsolate at the thought of being separated from their pastor and superior, who had always been a warm friend of the community. Some expressed fears that they would never again have the pleasure of seeing the Bishop; to which he answered: "I am your Superior: it is my wish that you should all live until I return to the diocese; hence I forbid any one to die during my absence." Adding a few words of exhortation and encouragement he gave them his blessing and then set out for Chillon, where he lived until a change of government at Fribourg eight years later removed all obstacles and revoked the decree that had sent him into exile.

In the mean time no deaths had occurred in the convent at Estavayer. One poor old sister, was more than seventy at the time of his departure and quite feeble. During the eight years of his exile she had suffered almost continually and often seemed on the point of breathing her last. In the midst of her sufferings, gasping for breath she would sometimes say to the sisters: "Mgr. Marilley will not let me die! How I long and pray for his return! God's will be done!" Shortly after his return to the diocese the Bishop went to Estavayer to console his Dominican children and to see, as he said, if they had obeyed his orders. All were there to answer the call; and two or three days afterwards the poor sufferer mentioned above closed her eyes in a peaceful sleep.

This brings us down very near to our own times, and as we merely intended to jot down a few notes on the past, we now close our short sketch of Estavayer's saintly community.

*The Bishops of Lausanne have resided at Fribourg since the time of the "Reformation."