PERPETUAL
699
PERPETUAL
gathered together her community in 1802, and made a
foundation at Avignon in 1807. The same year a Sac-
ramentine of Marseilles founded a convent at Aix-en-
Provence. In 181(3 the convent of Marseilles was re-
opened, and Mere de La Fare made a new foundation
at Carpentras. In 1859 six religious of Aix founded
a house at Bernay, Normandy, and in 1S63 some
Sisters from Bollene founded a convent of Perpetual
Adoration at Taunton, England. Oxford also has a
foundation. All the houses of this order arc autono-
mous and dependent on the ordinary of the diocese,
who is their superior. In con.sequence of the persecu-
tion of religious congregations in France, the Sacra-
mentines of Marseilles were obliged to abandon their
convent. The four other houses of Southern France,
being authorized by the Government, still subsist,
though their boarding-school is closed. The Sacra-
mentincs of Bernay at the time of the expulsion, July,
1903, were compelled to close their boarding-school and
go into exile. Thirteen of the sisters retired to Belgium,
and founded a house at Hal. The rest of the com-
munity settled in England at Whitson Court, New-
port, Monmouthshire. Their existence is precarious,
for they arc not permitted to open a school. Their
days are spent in prayer, adoration, and the making
of altar-breads, vestments, and church ornaments.
In March, 1911, the Sacramentines were permitted
by Archbishop Farley to open a house in Holy Trinity
parish, Yonker.s, New York.
H^LYOT, Hisloire des Qrdres, IV, 421 sq.; Heimbucber, Die Orden u. Kongregationen, s. v. SahTamejitinerinnen.
A. Letellier.
Perpetual Help, Sisters op Our Ladt of, a con- gregation founded in the parish of St. Damien, Belle- chasse, P. Q., Canada, 28 August, 1892, by Abbe J. O. Brousseau. The institute devotes itself to the follow- ing works; the instruction of children, particularly in country and city parochial schools; the education of orphans and the maintenance of agricultural orphan- ages in which, together with religious instruction and a good education, children may be given a taste for fanning; the care of the aged and infirm of both sexes
Abbe J. O. Brousseau laboured earnestly to secure funds for the new foundation and to overcome the obstacles to its progress. The pastors of a number of parishes in the Diocese of Quebec authorized him to seek pecuniary aid, on condition that he would admit some of their aged poor and orphans to his institu- tions. Among those who cooperated with hirn was Mile Virginie Foumier, born at St. Joseph de L6vis but a resident of F^all River, Mass., a woman of experi- ence and courage. She became the first superior of the little community which as Mere St. Bernard she gov- erned for six years, with great success. From the first year of the community's existence, the sisters have conducted the principal schools of the parish of St. Damien. The demand for these religious educators increa.sed and, in 1907, having no more disengaged subjects, they were obliged to refuse the direction of seventeen municipal schools. The first profession oc- curred on 27 March, 1897, when fifteen sisters pro- nounced the three vows of religion for a year, renewing them annually until the taking of their perpetual vows on 10 July, 1908. The congregation recruits its mem- bers from all classes of society, poverty being no obstacle. None are received save those of upright in- tention, sound judgment, a well-disposed will, and sufficiently robust health. To accept subjects uniler fifteen years of ago and over thirty, widows or persons having already taken either temporary or perpetual vows in another religious community, it is necessary to have the permission of the Holy See. The dower is fixed at a hundred dollars; in default of this the aspir- ant must promise to give instead what will later revert to her by right of inheritance, bequest, or in any other legitimate way. The period of postulantship lasts six
months, that of noviceship eighteen months, and after
six years, permanent vows are taken.
The institute has so far confined its activities to the Diocese of Quebec. In 1907-08, the constitutions were recast and made conformable to the observa- tions in the "Guide canonique" by Mgr Battandier, the superior-general and her councilors being directed in this work by the Rev. Charles Gonthier, S.J., of Montreal. At present the congregation conducts 21 schools in the Province of Quebec, with 2532 pupils, 1 hospital with 44 inmates, and 35 sisters, and has charge of 50 orphans. The order numbers (1911) 112 professed sisters, 8 novices, and 12 postulants.
Sister St. Ignace de Loyola.
Perpetual Succour, Our Lady of. — The picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour is painted on wood, with background of gold. It is Byzantine in style and is supposed to have been painted in the thirteenth cen- tury. It represents the Mother of God holding the Divine Child while the Archangels Michael and Ga- briel present before Him the instruments of His Pas- sion. Over the figures in the picture are some Greek letters which form the abbreviated words Mother of God, Jesus Christ, Archangel Michael, and Archangel Gabriel respectively. It was brought to Rome to- wards the end of the fifteenth century by a pious mer- chant, who, dying there, ordered by his will that the picture should be exposed in a church for public vener- ation. It was exposed in the church of San Matteo, Via Merulana, between St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran. Crowds flocked to this church, and for nearly three hundred years many graces were ob- tained through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. The picture was then popularly called the Madonna di San Matteo. The church was served for a time by the Hermits of St. Augustine, who had sheltered their Irish brethren in their distress. These Augustinians were still in charge when the French invaded Rome (1812) and destroyed the church. The picture dis- appeared; it remained hidden and neglected for over forty years, but a series of providential circumstances between 1863 and 1865 led to its discovery in an ora- tory of the Augustinian Fathers at Santa Maria in Posterula.
The pope, Pius IX, who as a boy had prayed before the picture in San Matteo, became interested in the discovery and in a letter dated 11 Dec, 1865 to Father General Mauron, C.SS.R., ordered that Our Lady of Perpetual Succour should be again publicly venerated in Via Merulana, and this time at the new church of St. Alphonsus. The ruins of San Matteo were in the grounds of the Redi'nipfdrist Convent. This was but the first favour of the Holy Father towards the pict- ure. He approved of the solemn translation of the picture (26 April, 1866), and its coronation by the Vatican Chapter (23 June, 1867). He fixed the feast as duplex secundce classis, on the Sunday before the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, and by a decree dated May, 1876, approved of a special office and Mass for the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. This favour later on was also granted to others. Learning that the devotion to Our Lady under this title had spread far and wide, Pius IX raised a confraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and St. Alphonsus, which had been erected in Rome, to the rank of an arch-confraternity and enriched it with many privileges and indulgences. He was amongst the first to visit the picture in its new home, and his name is the first in the register of the arch- confraternity. Two thousand three hundred fac- similes of the Holy Picture have been sent from St. Alphonsus's church in Rome to every part of the world. At the present day not only altars, but churclies and dioceses (e. g. in England, Leeds and Middlesborough; in the United States, Savannah) are dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. In some places, as in
