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workhouses; they cannot be called chaplains, but are
known as Roman Catholic instructors. Mass is
regularly said in many workhouses and in some the
Blessed "Sacrament is reserved. Benediction is also
given in several workhouses.
By the act to provide for the maintenance and educa- tion of pauper children, 1862 (25 and 26 Vict., c. 43), guardians are empowered (section 1) to send any poor child to any school certified by the Local Govern- ment Board, and supported wholly or partially by voluntary subscriptions, and to pay out of the funds in their possession the expenses of maintenance, clothing, and education. By an act of 1882 (45 and 46 Vict., c. 58, s. 13), the rate of payment is sanc- tioned by the Local Government Board and it varies from five to seven shillings a week. The amount of the payment, within this limit, will be a matter of agreement between the guardians and the school.
Certified schools are inspected by the Local Govern- ment Board inspector; and guardians who have sent a child to any such school may from time to time appoint one of their body to visit and inspect. A child cannot be sent to a certified school without the consent of its parents or surviving parent, unless it be an orphan or a child deserted by its parents or surviving parent. This regulation is neither rec- ognized by the guardians nor enforced by the Local Government Board in London. A child cannot be sent to a school conducted on the principles of a religion to which the child does not belong (25 & 26 Vict., c. 43, s. 9). Should a Board of Guardians refuse to send a child to a certified school, the course to adopt to compel them to do so is to apply to the Local Government Board. Orphan and deserted children, and children adopted by the guardians under the acts of 1889 and 1898 may be boarded out under very strict regulations compiled in the orders of 1905 and 1909, but in no case may a child be boarded out with a foster-parent of a religious creed different from that to which the child belongs. Formerly if a child were adopted and taken off the rates al- together, the jurisdiction both of the guardians and of the Local Government Board was at an end; now, however, the Poor Law Act 1899 provides that where a child maintained by guardians is with their consent adopted by any person, the guardians must, during a period of three years from the date of the adoption, cause the child to be visited at least twice in each year by some competent person appointed by them for the purpose, who is to report to them. And the guardians may, if they think fit, at any time during the three years revoke their consent to the adoption and the child must thereupon be returned to them by the person having the custody of him. Efforts are now being made to have all such children placed under the regulations of the boarding out orders. Guardians are authorized to bury Catholics in a Catholic burial ground and a Catholic priest may officiate and be paid a reasonable sum for his ser- vices.
FowLE, The Poor Law (London, 1890); Glen, The Poor Law Orders (11th ed., London, 1900); Aschrott, The English Poor Law System, Past and Present, English tr. by PRESTON-THOMAa (London, 1888); Maude, The Poor Law Handbook (London. 1903); Idem, The Religious Rights of the Catholic Poor (2nd ed., London, 1910); Reprint of the Poor Law Commissioners' Report of 1834 (London); Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, 1906-9 Report (London); Sellers. Foreign Solutions of Poor Law Prob- lems (London, 1904); Idem. The Danish Poor Law Relief System (I-Xjndon, 1904); Cowen, The Poor Laws of the State of New York (Albany, 1887); Reports of Poor Law in Foreign Coun- tries in Parliamentary Papers, LXV (1875).
Thomas G. King.
Poor of St. Francis, Sisters of the, a Congrega- tion, founded by the Venerable Mother Frances Scher- vier at Aachen in the year 1845, who.se mem- bers observe the Rule of the Third Order of St. Francis, as given by Leo X for Tertiaries living in XIL— 17
community, and Constitutions adapted to their
special work, care of the sick poor, dependent upon
charity.
Foundation. — Frances Schervier, b. in Aachen, 3 January, 1819, was the child of John Henry Caspar Schervier, proprietor of a needle manufactory and associate magistrate of the city, and Maria Louisa Migeon, descendant of a wealthy French family. Frances's education was thorough, and it was always her desire to serve the sick and poor. She began by giving them food and clothing, labouring for them, and visiting them in their homes and hospitals. In 1840 she joined a charitable society, in order to exer- cise this charity more actively. In 1844 she and four other young ladies (Catherine Daverkosen, Gertrude Frank, Joanna Bruchhans, and Catherine Lassen) be- came members of the Third Order of St. Francis. The following year, with the permission of a priest, they went to live together in a small house beyond St. James's Gate, and Frances was chosen superior of the community. The life of the sisters was conventual, and the time spent in religious exercises, household duties, and caring for the sick poor. In 1848 the com- munity numbered thirteen members.
Development. — In the latter part of 1848 a mild form of cholera broke out in Aachen, followed by an epidemic of small pox, and an infirmary was opened in an old Dominican building, the property of the city. The Sisters offered their services as nurses and they were authorized to take up their abode in the building (1849). New members were admitted in 1849, when they were called to take charge of an infirmary for cholera patients in Burtscheid. In 1850 they estab- lished a hospital for incurables in the old Dominican building, and the home nursing and charity kitchens in different parishes were entrusted to them. In 1850 the "Constitutions" were compiled and submitted to the Archbishop of Cologne. They were approved, and on 12 August, 1851, Mother Frances and her twenty- three associates were invested with the habit of St. Francis. On 13 June, 1850, they took charge of a hos- pital in Juelich (later abandoned). In 1851 a founda- tion was established at Bonn and also at Aachen for the care of the female prisoners in the House of Deten- tion. When the home of the Poor Clares, before their suppression in 1803, was offered for sale in the summer of 1852, Mother Frances purchased the spacious build- ing for a convent — the first mother-house. The con- gregation grew steadily and rapidly. In 1852 two houses were founded in Cologne, and a hospital was opened at Burtscheid. Foundations were established in Ratingen, Mayence, Coblenz (1854); Kaiserswerth, Crefeld, Euskirchen (1855); Eschweiler (18.58); Stol- berg and Erfurt (1863), etc. The number of institu- tions in Europe at time of present writing (1911) is about 49.
Congregation in America. — The year 1858 marks an important epoch in the development of the congrega- tion, namely: the transplanting of the congregation to America. Mrs. Sarah Peter, a convert of Cincinnati, O., received a commission from the archbishop in that city to bring German Sisters to America to care for the destitute poor of German nationality, and Irish Sisters for the Irish poor. While in Rome in 1857 she submitted the plan to the Holy Father, who advised her to apply for German Sisters to some Aus- trian bishop. Cardinal Von Geis.sel, the Archbishop of Cologne, earnestly recommended the Congregation of Mother Frances for the purpose. In Ireland she succeeded in obtaining the Sisters of Mercy. Mother Frances resolved to found a house in Cincinnati, and on 24 August, 1858, the six sisters chosen by her set sail for America. Upon their arrival in Cincinnati, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd kindly gave them hospi- tality. Soon they received the offer of the gratuitous u.se of a vacated orphanage for their patients. The following year three more sisters arrived from Europe,
