The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-06-29
THE CATHOLIC BULLETIN, JUNE %, 1912.

spread in half score of Dioceses to
teach and preach, their successes in
school and pulpit were SO solid, not to
say brilliant, that after three-quarters
OF century of devoted service in re-
claiming moral wanderers bewildered
by the lurid glare of religious up-
heavals and moral eruptions; after all
these years of relentless effort in
solidifying the weak and wavering and
stimulating the good to still holier life,
so close had they grown to the hearts
of the people and the children Of the
poor that they were among the first to
be singled out and disrupted by the
atheistic government of the eldest
daughter" Disbanded they were, but
not silenced, for they have grown more
boldly eloquent and are still among
the forces now working most effective
ly for the rehabilitation of the Church
in France. Though ousted from their
homes and schools, comparatively few
have taken the road of exile, the ma
jority remaining on the scene beneath
the friendlier dome of the national
sky, finding shelter among the poor
whose children they gather about them
in improvised schools, thus inducing
the parents to relearn the road to
church on Sundays where these brave
educators again gladly lend their eff
cient help to the secular priests. The
story of the dechristianization of
France might be more woeful and the
outlook more hopeless were it not for
the activities of such devoted men in
the work of salvage from the wrecks
of too frequent cataclysms.
viatorians in America.
In America the Viatorians have en-
ployed themselves so far chiefly in the
work of primary and secondary educa-
ton. In Canada where they have
wrought for over half a century they
have large and we'll trained force of
teachers conducting parochial schools,
commercial academies and classical
colleges in two score cities and vii
lagos of the province of Quebec. 1t
was from Montreal that the first
priests and brothers of st. Viator came
to lend their aid to their distressed
countrymen of the Diocese of Chicago.
In 1866 when the pastors of Central
Illinois and of several neighboring
dioceses had been bravely struggling
for ten years to repair the losses
wrought in their focks by the apostasy
of Chiniquy, it was thought that an
effective check would be put to the
nefarious work of this pervert by
placing the parish of Bourbonnais,
which was centrally located, in the
hands of the viatorians. Summoned
by the Bishop of Chicago the Via
torians came. How well they have
done their work is now a matter of
history. Scarce a vestige of the old
error remains, either in Kankakee or
in the towns originally affected, to
which they have now long supplied
priests and educated laymen from st.
Viator College, whose fearlessly mill
tant Catholicity has victoriourly set
the banners of triumph over the tow
ers of Israel
Colleges Conducted by Watorians.
Since their advent in Illinois the
Viatorians have conducted a number
of parochial schools and now have
charge of several parishes. Their
main efforts have, however, been cen
tered in the developing of st. Viator
College, which has become one of the
important centers of Catholic learning
in the middle west. Three years ago
they opened a new college at Cham
berlain, South Dakota. Since 1882 the
American Viatorians were placed un-
der local provincial superior, whose
headquarters are now at st. Viators
Normal Institute, 1908 Fortieth Ave
nue., Chicago, Illinois. Although large
ly absorbed in educational and paro-
chial work the Fathers of st. Viator
have not in all these years entirely
neglected their constitutional duties
in the matter of giving missions In
Montana, Dakota, Michigan and Hi.
nois, in parish church and convent
chapel their voice has been heard
With increasing numbers they will now
be able to devote more time and men
to this important part of their voca.
tional ministry. In view then of en-.
gaging more actively in the American
missionary field, giving missions to
Catholics and non-Catholics, preaching
retreats, triduums to sodalities, and
retreats to children, the Viatorians OF
the province of Chicago have for the
past two years adopted the plan OF
placing some of their subjects under the
expert training of the Apostolic Mis-.
sion House at the Catholic University
in Washington. With their own slim.
ulating missionary traditions and the
added impetus furnished them by the
disciples of the eloquent Apostle OF
the Gentiles the mission Fathers of St