The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger

SISTERS OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

ASSEMBLING OF THE SIXTIETH ELECTORAL COUNCIL—FOUNDATION OF THE ORDER.

On the 25th day of May next there will be assembled at Angers, Department of Maine et-Loire, France, a body of religious ladies drawn from nearly every civilized nation and from many of the semi-civilized countries of the earth, to elect a chief officer for their order. The order is that of the Catholic Sisterhood of our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, and there will be represented in the Electoral Council about 140 monasteries, located in Europe, Asia, 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 voluntarily present themselves for admission, or are committed to its custody by competent authority. Prior to 1835, 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 a 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 religieuse, Marie de St. Euphrasie Pelletier, was in 1817 Mistress of the Penitents in the Community of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, at Tours, and a few years later became Superioress of the same body. In 1829 she was called to Angers, to establish a penitential home for Magdalens, the basis of the fund for its establishment being a bequest of 30,000 francs by Mme. De la Potherie De Neuville, her son, Count De Neuville, subsequently becoming a great benefactor of the institution. Under the belief that the establishment of a Generalship would lead to a more extended control and interest in the work, a petition was sent to Rome by Bishop Montault, of Angers, in conjunction with the Bishops of Poitiers, Metz, and Grenoble, and the request was joined in by the Count De Neuville, the Countess D'Andigni and other eminent persons, clerical and lay. The Generalate was approved of in 1835 by a decree and brief from His Holiness, Gregory XVI., and Mother Marie St. Euphrasie was named Superioress General. She continued her work for thirty-three years, and at the time of her death she was seventy-two years old. So great was the recognition of her labors that shortly before her dissolution benedictions were sent to her by the Archbishops of Cambray, Aix, and Westminster, and the Bishops of Orleans, Arras, and Poitiers, and Most Rev. Dom Gueranger, Abbot of Solesmes, 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 a superior position. At her decease there were 110 monasteries, of which 32 were in France, 10 in Belgium and Holland, 14 in Italy, including 3 in Rome; 15 in Germany, 10 in Great Britain and Ireland, 3 in Asia, 8 in Africa, 20 in North and South America, and 1 in Oceanica, all of which sprung from the Mother House at Angers. The Angers Monastery contains about 12,000 inmates, and has a congregation of about 2,000 nuns. The term of office of the Superior General is six years. The last election took place in October, 1868, at which the present incumbent, Mother General Maria St. Joseph, was chosen. The election should have been held on the Thursday succeeding the octave of the Ascension of that year, but Mother General St. Euphrasie had been elected term after term by scrutiny, or written notes of the electors. In 1868 she would of course have been similarly re-elected, but her death in the 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 General Monastery of Angers discharged the duties pro tem. until the October election. On the day preceding her death, Mother General St. Euphrasie nominated a colony of the sisterhood to establish the monastery of Misericorde, near Oran, in Algeria, and on the same day transacted business for a little colony who were about to start for Aden and another for India. The Superioress 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 attend the Electoral Council, six of them having sailed by the steamer Gaelic, and the remainder by the steamer City of Richmond. According to the best obtainable information, the order now includes about 125 monasteries and nearly 30,000 nuns.