PRECIOUS
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PRECIOUS
altogether twenty-five houses. The Kulturkampf
closed the houses in Alsace and Bavaria. Rizzoli was
succeeded by Mgr Caporali, in 1890 consecrated
Archbishop of Otranto; ISIgr Salvatore Palmieri, to
whom the Government refused the exequatur when he
was named Archbishop of Rossano, but later ac-
quiesced in his preconization as Archbishop of
Brindisi (1893); Aloysius Biaschelli; the present gen-
eral is Very Rev. Hyacinthe Petroni.
The congregation was introduced into America (1844) at the request of Bishop Purcell of Cincin- nati, Ijy Rev. Francis de S. Brunner (q. v.). It con- ducts a college (Collegeville, Ind.) and parishes in Ohio (Dioceses of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo), In- diana (Diocese of Fort Wayne), Missouri (Diocese of St. Joseph and Kansas City), Illinois (Archdiocese of Chicago), Nebraska (Diocese of Lincoln). The chief work of the order is the giving of missions and assist- ing the secular parish clergy on occasions such as tridua, Forty Hours devotions, retreats etc. The novitiate is at Burkettsville, Ohio.
In America candidates pass through a year of pro- bation, after which they are admitted either as brothers, and then take the promise of fidelity, or as students, to follow a six years' course in classical studies. Such of the students as receive the degree A.B. enter the seminary, and after the first year of philosophy give the promise of fidelity. After five years more of study, they are ordained, and a year later become eligible to full membership. If the ballot is favourable, they are admitted and invested with the missionary's insignia (a large ebony crucifix with brass figure and brass chain, worn over the heart). In Europe the method of adopting members is somewhat different, since there none are admitted before they are at least students of philosophy; often priests join the congregation.
The present statistics for the congregation are: Italy, 3 provinces, 15 houses, the principal ones being at Rome (Santa Maria in Trivio), Albano, and San Paolo; Spain, 1 province, 2 houses; North America, 1 province with a seminarj' at Carthagena, Ohio, seat of the provincial; a college at Collegeville, Ind., with 300 students; novitiate at BurkettsWlle, Ohio; parishes and missions: Ohio, 19; Indiana, 4; Missouri, 6; Nebraska, 2. The house at Shellenbcrg (Liechten- stein) belongs to the American province. There are in the American province 110 priests, 20 seminarians, 75 collegians, 70 la3'-brothers, 35 no\'ices, 17 convents, and 44 missions and stations.
Precious Blood, Knights of the. — At Mantua in 1608 a knight-order of the Precious Blood, which received the approval of Paul V, was founded by Vincente del Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Its aim was to protect the sacred relic of the Precious Blood. The members wore on a golden ribbon a remonstrance, representing two angels holding up a vase containing three drops of blood. The Dukes of Mantua were grandmasters, until Emperor Joseph I declared the dukedom abohshed ; the order was then dissolved. The sacred relic is said to have disappeared since 1848.
There is no bibliography for the European provinces; for .\merica: Brunner, Wo sind sie, welche in die Kloster nach Amerika ausg€ira>i4eTt sindf (Tiibingen, ISoG); Lebenund Wirken des P. F. S. Brunner, II (Carthagena, 1S82). As to the lives of some of the early members in Italy, Brevi Ceimi sulla'rila e le virtii di alcuni Membri delta Congregazione del Prezioso Sangue (18S0); on the activity of the American priests, Nuntius Aula, I-X.
Ulrich F. Mueller.
Precious Blood, Congregations of the. — I. Ber- NADiNES OF THE PRECIOUS Blood, a Congregation of nuns, no longer in existence, founded by Mother Ballou with the assistance of St. Francis de Sales, as an offshoot of the reformed Cistercianesses.
II. D.\ughters of THE PRECIOUS Blood, Were founded by Maria .Scraphina Spiehermans at Sittard, Holland, 18(52, and approved by a Decree of Leo XIII, 12 July, 1890. Their main object is the education of
girls, and the care of the sick. They wear a red girdle,
and on a red ribbon a cross with the initials F. P. S.
(Fiha Pretiosi Sanguinis — daughter of the Precious
Blood). Leo XIII appointed Cardinal Mazzella as
their cardinal protector. The mother-house is in
Koningbosch, Diocese of Roermond. They assist es-
pecially the Missionary Fathers of the Holy Ghost in
German East Africa. As yet they have made no
foundation in the United States.
Ulrich F. Mueller.
III. Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood, a congregation of nuns established, 14 September, 18(51, by Right Rev. Joseph La Rocque, then Bishop of St. Hyacinthe (Prov. Quebec, Canada), with the co-oper- ation of Mgr. J. S. Raymond, then superior of the seminarj' of St. Hyacinthe. The foundress, M^re Catherine-Aur(^'lie du Precieux Sang, commonly called Mere Caouette or Mother Catherine, died, 6 July, 1905, at the mother-house in St. Hyacinthe, of which she was then superioress. The object of the institu- tion is two-fold : the glorification of the Precious Blood, and the salvation of souls. "To adore, to repair, to suffer", is the watch-word given to the sisters by the foimdress. She was joined by Sister Euphrasie de Joseph, her cousin. Sister Sophie de I'lncarnation, niece of Monsignor Raymond, and Sister Elizabeth de rimmaculee Conception, a convert. The constitutions of the institute were approved bj* Leo XIII, 20 Octo- ber, 1896. The order is contemplative, and the sisters maintain perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacra- ment. The Oflice is recited daily: on Thursday, the Office of the Blessed Sacrament, which is also chanted when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed; everj- first Sunday of the month, and during the Forty-Houra devotion, which by a special privilege of Pius IX is held four times yearly. On Saturday the Office of the Blessed Virgin is said, and on all other days that of the Precious Blood. Matins and Lauds are recited at midnight. The institute is governed by the mother superior, aided by her councillors, and in certain cases by the chapter of the community. The councillors and the mother superior are elected for a term of five years. Houses are independent of one another in government, recruiting, and training their members. The novitiate lasts two years. The choir and lay sisters make perpetual vows; the tourieres (oufc- sisters) pronounce their vows for a year only, being allowed to renew them afterwards on the Feast of the Precious Blood. The choir sisters dress in white, with a red scapular and cincture on which are painted in white the instruments of the Passion; for Com- munion, and before the Blessed Sacrament when ex- posed, they wear a white mantle. Hence their popu- lar name, "the white nuns". The lay sisters have the same costume, but the dress is black. The costume of the tourieres is all black, as their fimctions call them out of the cloister. The institute subsists on alms and on the work of some of the sisters, who make everj'thing requisite for the service of the altar, and other pious articles. The institute also directs the Confraternity and the Guard of Honour of the Pre- cious Blood, and spiritual retreats for ladies.
From the mother-house at St. Hyacinthe have sprung many branches: Toronto (Ontario, Canada), 1867; Montreal (Quebec, Canada), 1874; Ottawa (Canada), 1887; Three Rivers (Quebec, Canada), 1889; Brooklyn (New York), 1890; Portland (Oregon), 1891; Sherbrooke (Quebec, Canada), 1895; Nicolet (Quebec, Canada), 1896; Manchester (N. H.), 1898; Havana (Cuba), 1902; Levis (Quebec, Canada), 1906; and Joliette (Quebec, Canada), 1907.
Sister Aim£e de Marie.
IV. Sisters of the Precious Blood, a congrega- tion of nuns founded at Gurtweil. Baden. In 1857 Rev. Herman Kessler, the pastor, who had long desired
