The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-05-17
Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
ASSEMBLING OF THE ELECTORAL
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF TIE ORDER.

| ASSEMBLING OF THEsFXTENNIALE ELECTORAL
COuNCIL-FoUSDATIoN OF TIE ORDER.
On the 25th day Of May next there viii
he assembled at Anglers, Department %
Maine et.Lore, France, a body OF reiigiout
ladies' drawn from nearly every civilized
nation and from many of the semi civil
ICED countries Of the earth, To elect II chic
officer for their order. The order is that OF
the Catholic SisteIhood of our Lady OF
Charity Of the Good Shepherd, and there
will be represented in the Electoral Council
about 40 mona-teries, located in Europe,
a Sia, Africa, America, and Oceanica. The
order, as is generally known, has for its
object the reclamation and reformation OF
fallen women and girls, who either volun-
talily present themselves for admission, or
are committed to its custody by competent
authority. Prior to 1885, this work was
carried on only under the direction of
isolated monasteries, under various titles,
but in that year the order became known
as an organized body, having supreme
source of authority, and the exemplary
lady who then became its leader held the
office, through successive elections, for
thirty three years, or up to the time of her
decease in April, 1868. This eminent
reljgieuse. Marie De St. Euphrasie Peiletier,
was in 1917 Mistress Of the Penitents in the
Community of Our Lady of Charity of the
Refuge, at Tours, and few years later
became Superioress of the same body. In
1929 she was called to Anglers, to establish
a penitential home for Magdalens, the basis
Of the fund for is establishment being a
bequest of 10000 francs by Nine De La
Potheric De Neuville, her son, Count De
Melville, subsequently, becoming n great
beRefactor of the institution. Under the
belief that the establishment of a General
ship would lead to more extended con-
troll and interest il the work, a petition
was sent to Rome by Bishop Montault, of
Anglers, in conf junction with the Bishops of
Poitiers, Metz, and Grenoble, and the
request was Joined in by the Count De
Melville, the Countess D'Andigni aud
other. eminent persons, clerical and lay.
The Generalat was approved of in 1885 by
q decree and brief from His Holiness,
Gregory XVI, and Mother Marie St.
She continued her work for thirty three
years, and at the time of her death she was
seventy two years old. SO great was tie
recognition of her labors that shortly
before her dissolution benedictioDs were
sent to her by the Archbishops of Cambray,
AK, and Westminster, and the Bishops Of
Orleans, Arras, aud Potiers, and Most
and her death-bed was surrounded by
many dignitaries Of the Church. She had
been a religieuse for over fifty years, and
during thirty nine years had held q suPe-
rior position. At her decease there was ITO
monasteries, of which 81 were in France,
10 in Belgium and Holland, ID in Italy, in
Guiding in Rome Is in Germany, 10 in
Great Britain and ireland, in Asia, in
Africa, 20 in North and South America,
and l in Oceanica, all of which sprung
from the Mother House at Anglers. The
Anglers Monastery contains about IL 600
inmates, and has q congregation of about
1000 nuns. The term Of Office of the Su-
al 10 Of Hfa loak -.
ton took place in October, 1868, at which
the present incumbent, Mother General
Maria st. Joseph, was chosen. The cleo
ton should have been held on the Thurs
day succeeding the octave of the Ascen-
sion of that year, but Mother General st.
Euphrasie had been elected term after
term by scrutdR, or written notes of the
electors. In 1868 she would of course have
been similarly re- elected, but her death in
tho latter part of April Of the same year
precluded it, and it was then too late to
summon the electoral council at the proper
calendar time. The assistant at the Gen
eral Monastery of Anglers discharged tie
duties pro tenn. until the October election.
On the day preceding her death, Mother
General st. Euphrasie nominated u colony
of the sisterhood to establish the monastery
of Miserghine, near Orau, in Algeria, and
on the same day transacted business for a
little colony who were about to start for
<Auen anu auoIher lot lnula. he SQpC-
rioress of the establishment at Oran was
appointed by her only a few hours before
her death, showing the deep devotion she
felt in her work while life lasted.
Last week the ladies of the order who
represent the monasteries of the United
States and Canada, left New York to at
tend the. Electoral Council, six Of them
having sailed by the steamer Gaelic, and
the remainder by the steamer City of Rich
mond. According to the best obtainable
the order now includes about
l2S monasteries and nearly 10000 nuns.
AN ALGERIAN SCHEME-AN ARTIFICIAL