Evening star., 1924-10-06

road. on the edge of Soldiers Home
Park, since 1916 The members here
are students taking special courses
at the university.
The religious conception is carried
out everywhere in the building. For
example, the visitor is puzzled at first
to find doorbell until he notices
wooden crucifix attached by wire.
One must pull this in order TO bring
any one to the door.
Paulists, American Order.
Far different from the Fra ansiscans,
dwelling in the atmosphere of
fragrant antiquity, are the Paulists,
a distinctly American order. with en-
tirely new world traditions. These
have two establishments at Brook
land. Just off the university grounds
on Michigan avenue is the Apostolic
Mission House, where Paulist fathers
conduct special courses OF study after
they have completed the ordinary
theological course. Here dwells one
of the most remarkable men con-
nected with the religious orders of
Washington, Rev. Walter Elliott.
Father Elliott was one of the earliest
members of the Paulist order. He
originally was lawyer who turned
to the church after serving in the
Civil War, where two of his brothers
were killed. This S2-year- old veteran
in the service of American Catholi-
cism still is one of the most active
forces in the order. The Paulist
House of Studies. stands in the midst
of 30-acre tract across North
Capitol street from the university.
The congregation of St. Paul the
Apostle is the only religious order
founded in the United States, entirely
-
verts to the Catholic faith. Its par
ticular function is to conduct mis-
sions for non-Catholics, and it is
entirely missionary society. Its
priests do practically mo teaching or
parish work.
Sprang from Brook Farm Venture.
The establishment was partly result
of the tragic Brook Farm experiment
in communistic living which was at
tempted at Concord, Mass. at about the
time of the Civil War, with chspromi-
nent writers as Ralph Waldo Emerson
and Henry D. Thoreau as the moving
spirits. The failure of Brook Farm in
it's abortive effort to introduce an ele-
ment of beauty and culture into the
drab American life of it's day turned
some of those associated with it into an
almost opposite direction from the
rather radical philosophy Of the early
New England Transcendentalists into
Catholicism. At least one of the Brook
Farm members combined with some
converted Episcopalian clergyman to
establish the Paulist order
The general public is best acquainted
with the Paulists for the missions they
preach during the Lenten period. They
are striking pulpit fgureS-robed en-
tirely in black, with a black, military
like collar with a white border. On the
breast, standing out in bold relief
against the black background, the
preachers wear a great silver crucifix.
Their college stands at the edge of
beautiful grove, and the fathers have
made the Immediately surrounding
grounds beautiful with tastefully ar
ranged roses.
OF all the religious orders in WASH
ington, perhaps the most picturesque
is the Dominican. Their house or
studies is located directly across the
car tracks from the university
grounds.
The Dominican midnight mass is a
ceremonial never to be forgotten and
throngs crowd the little chapel at the
house of studies every Christmas eve.
The mystic glamour Of old days falls
over the scene as the priests and
brothers, clad in pure white robes and
with white cassocks over their heads.
file into their seats. All the splendor,
all the picturesqueness of medieval
religion is there. The ritual of the
Dominicans is quite distinct from
those used by other orders and is ex-
ceptionally impressive and beauti-'
full. There are 125 students now in the
house. These range from scholastics
preparing for ordination to priests