The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-10-07

lens such a crushing defeat that
~henceforth the Pyrenees were free
from them forever.
The debonnair prince knew his
Bible; and when he looked upon the
scene of the victory-the valley and
the hamlet lying ssat the foot of the
mountains-he vas reminded of Endor
and Mount Tabor and the Scrfptural
battlefield where also the army of true
religion fought against the forces of
heathendom. So he called the place
Endor, or, a IS it is now pronounced,
Andorra.
Louis did more for Andorra than
merely drive out it's enemies. 1t was
he, it is said, who first formally
recognized the locality as a self-gov-
erning political unit, and fixed upon
natural barriers of gorge and river
and mountain which, to this day, form
the boundaries of the country. In the
ruined, half d~epopulated villages he
settled a number of his own soldiers;
and, in order to reconcile them to
living in this out-of-the-way and un-
fertile region, he made its inhabitants
free from every kind of tax or i'm
post. Best of all, from the viewpoint
OF the continued existence and integ-
rity OF the new State, he placed it
under the protection of one of his
most valiant knights, whom he created
Count of Urgel, the district from
which the Andorrans had originally
emigrated. AS a token of his own
ultimate sovereignty, Louis demand
ed only an annual tribute Of a couple
of trout for which the Valira has beer
always famous. .
Such is the tradition, held proudly
and s%tubbornly by every patriotic
Andorran, concerning the origin of
the oldest, highest, poorest and, in
population, smallest republic in the
world.
At present the Bishop of the Do
cese OF Urgel has the title of "Sover-
eign Prince of Andorra." The Presi-
dent of the French Republic, as CO.
prince, is also a suZerain of Andorra,
yet neither the Bishop nor the Presi-
dent is a sovereign strictly speaking.
They are rather feudal .over-lords
who, for Il nominal return, guarantee
the autonomy Of a practically indie
pendent and self-governing State.
France now receives from Andorra, a
biennial tribute of 1894. The Bishop
of Urgel receives every second year
only $3.50. But, on the other hand.
the Bishop is more favored than the
he is given by each of the six par
ishes two fine hams, two choice
cheeses and two fat capons.
In religion the Andorrans, are, OF
course, all Catholics, and the writer
of the book from which we have
quoted the foregoing, an American
Protestant, says that they are very
deVout. They are temperate in habit.
and they are notable for the purity OF
their homes. Throughout the length
of the Valley" says this writer, "a
drunken man or an unchaste woman
is almost unknown"
Honesty in their dealings is another
characteristic of the Andorrans. The
author says that he met with not the
slightest attempt at extortion, and
when once he accidentally overpaid
a shop-keeper, the man entered into
a long explanation in labored French
Catalan is their speech) as to why
he must return to the traveller two
and a half cents. At another time
a man worked half an hour trying
to remove some grease spots from
the coat of n of the authors CON-
panions, and then absolutely refused
to take any payment for his trouble.
"A hundred and fifty years ago. he
writes, lone of their most renowned
scholars published a compilation OF
the traditional maxims which should
govern the ideal Andorran life. / be-
lieve that there are fifty-five of these
rules, though | have not seer them:
but it seems as though four would be
considered sufficient by the modern
inhabitant of the Valley. These four
would be: Fear God, Live as closely
as possible to Nature, Preserve the
Neutrality of the Republic, and Keep
your own Counsel"