The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-09-10
Presbyterian Candor.

The Calvinist Organ in this city is stli
quite ignorant of the situation of thos'
former "fens and morasses" reclaimed, b,
the monks and thinks that VIC feel insuitet
at being Intercepted on the point. On thu
contrary, we should fear to insult any In
telligent man by supposing him to b
serious in asking so absurd question
But since that respectable journal insis.l
on it we will give it list Of few only
among the tens of thousands of similar
ones, Of places reclaimed by monkish in.
dustry. It is found In tho Genius Of Chris
tianity p. GA ct seq. Chateaubriand says
| indebted for agriculture, - we'll as for oar
colleges and hospitals. The tillage Of unculti'
vAted lands, tho construction Of roads, the en-
| tion Of post-houses and inns, srt., trados, and
manufactures, commerce internal and exter'
nal, laws. civil and pottical.-in - word,
n Sor wsss
whom Christianity was Obliged to teach even
| the art Of raising the pecssssries OF life.
ries In the early ages Of the Church, consisted
Of wastes Of which the monks brought into
cultivation With their own hands. Trackless
were the sources of that wealth with which We
While no monk; Of frsnonsre wsrs sili,ns
couss IN France, the Bsns2iesins. ssrs giving
fertility to our mOors. Molesme, Colan and
Citesux, now covered with vineyards and
briers and thorns !; whore tho first monks
dwelt in cabins made of boughsf ike the
American settlers, In the midst Of their i'm
St. Bernard and his disciples cultivated the
sterile valleys granted them by ThibAad, Count
of Champagne. Fontsvrault was real colo
ny, established by Robert 6Arbis.es in will
Whole families sought an asylum under the
direction Of these Benedictines, in whose vi
cinity were found communities OF widows,
aged soldiers. Ali became husbandmen, after
the example Of the fathers, who Themselves
felled trees, guided the plough, sowed the
With fourishiur cropN which 1t had never
Tho colony was soon obliged to send away
portion Of its members, and TO- give mp to
hands. Raoul de Ia Futsye, companion of
Robert, settled in the forest OF Md du Merle,
and Vital. another Benedictine. in the woods
diocese Of ADgers; Chaufournois, in Touraine;
Bellay, in ths same province; La Puie, in
Poiton LIEncloitre, in tho forest OF Gironde I,
Gsisne, few miles from Loaaon I I"nas On I'm
tho hoaths of Garnache; Ii Aagdeieine on
the Loire Boubon, in Limousin Cadouins in
Perigord lastly, Haute Broysrs, near fa nnS
nom uncultivated tracts were transformed
into productive Solids.
We should tire the reader were We 70 At
the ploughs Of the Benedictines in the wilds
of GauL Maurecourt, Longpre, Fontaine, te
Charms, Colinance Foici, Bellomer, Coussinie,
sauvement, Les Epinese Eube, vanassel' Ions,
in Brittany, Anjou, Berry, Auvergne, Gascony,
Languedoc, and Cayenne, attest their immense
labors. st. COLUMBIAN converted the desert or
Vaupe into . garden; and even Benedlctlne
nuns after the example of the fathers OF their
order devoted themselves to the cultivation
of the soil. Those of Observation-Disclosures "em-
spinning, and clearing the forest, in imitation
Of Laon and all the monks of Clairvaux."
In Spain, the Benedictines displayed the
same activity. They purchased waste la and
there founded the convent Of venghalia, alter
they had planted the whole surrounding
country with vines and orange trees.
wilderness. When st. Benedict retired thith-
err, the face of the country was soon changed,
and in a short time the new abbey became SO
was enabled to defend itself, in 1887, against
the Normans, who made war upon It'll
st. Boniface and the monks Of his order were
the first farmers in the four bishoprics of Ba.
varia The Benedictines of Fulda brought
into cultivation tract of land between Hesse
Frapconia, and Thuringia, eight thousand
geometrical PAGES in dlameter,-Lhat Is, t"en-
ty.four thousand PAGES, or near fifty miles, in
circumference; and they soon reckoned
eighteen Thousand farms in Bavaria and Sua-
| bia The monks of st. Benedict of Polironna,
| near Mantna employed more than three thou
sand pair of oxen in husbandry.
The Presbyterian, if it deigns to peruse
this eloquent extract from Chateaubriand,
will be able to provide itself with a partial
list of the localities about which it is 80
much exercised. These were no fat and
productive mauors bestowed upon the
monks, but savage wilds, original forests
dreary wastes, sterile deserts, all places
that had to be reclaimed to agriculture by
hard and incessant toll. This list is formed
principally from names included within the
boundaries of France. Spain, Italy ane
Germany are but slightly referred to, while
: Great Britain, Ireland and the Baltic Ma
, tions are entirely omitted. If our neigheel