FRANCE
188
FRANCE
the Chamber, on the basis indicated for Catholics by
the instructions of Leo XIII. This association, which
was legally incorporated 17 May, 1902, comprises 1400
committees and more than 200,000 adherents. It
acts by means of lectures, publications, and congresses.
In the Chamber elected in 1906 there were 77 deputies
belonging to this association.
Catholic daily journalism is represented chiefly by "L'Univers", "La Croix", and the "Peuple Fran- gais." The former of these papers, founded 3 November, 18.33, by the Abb6 Migne, had Eugene Veuillot for its editor from 1839 on, and Louis Veuillot after 1844. Its adhesion to the political directions given by Leo XIII detached from the "Univers", in 1893, a group of editors who founded "La V6rit(5 Fran^aise"; this split ended with the amalgamation of the "Univers" and the "V6rit6", 19 January, 1907. In October, 1908, the "Univers", under the management of M. Francois Veuillot, ac- quired greater importance with an enlarged form. "The Good Press" (Maison de la Bonne Presse), founded in 1873 by the Augustinians of the Assump- tion, immediately after issued the "Pelerin", a bul- letin of pious enterprises and pilgrimages, and after 1883 a daily paper, " La Croix", which has been edited since 1 April. 1900, by M. F6ron Vrau. About a hundred local "Croix" are connected with the Paris "Croix". The "Good Press" publishes "Questions Actuelles", "Cosmos", "Mois Litteraire", and many other periodicals, and with it is connected the " Presse R^gionale", which maintains a certain number of provincial papers defending Catholic interests. Many independent papers, either Conservative or nominally Liberal, are reckoned as Catholic, although a certain number of them have misled Catholic opinion by their opposition to the programme of Leo XIII.
The leading Catholic review is "Le Correspondant ", founded in 1829, formerly the organ of the Liberal Catholics, such as Montalembert and Falloux. Its policy is " to rally all defenders of the Catholic cause, whatever their origin, on the broad ground of liberty for all ; to afford them a common centre where, laying aside differences that must be secondary in the view of Christians, each one can do his part, in letters, in science, in historical and philosophical studies, in social life, to win the victory for Christian ideas". Monarchist by its antecedents, with a public in which Monarchists form a large proportion, the "Corres- pondant" has had for its editor since May, 1904, M. Etienne Lamy, of the Academic Frangaise, who was a Republican Member of the National Assembly of 1871, and who, in 1881, brought down upon himself the dis- pleasure of the Republican electors by his sturdy op- position to the laws suppressing religious congregations.
The chief enterprises for the benefit of Catholic students in Paris are the Cercle Catholique du Lu- xembourg, which was founded in 1847, and in 1902 became the Association Gdn^rale des Etudiants Catholiques de Paris; the Olivaint and the Laennec lectures, established in 1875, the former for students in law and letters, the latter for medical students, by Fathers of the Society of Jesus; the Reunion des Etudiants founded in 1895 by the Marist Fathers, and of which Ferdinand Brunetiere was president of the board of directors until his death. Besides these, the Association Catholique de la Jeunesse Fran- gaise, founded in 1886, now (June, 1909) unites in one group nearly 100,000 young men, students, peasants, employees of various kinds, and labourers ; it has 2400 groups in the provinces and holds annual congresses in which, for some years past, social questions have been actively discussed. It was at the congress held by this association at Bcsan(jon in 1898 that the conversion of l(T(liiiiiiid Hi'uiielirre was made known in a very rcmarkalilc spi'i'di of (he famous acailcnii- cian. Since \'.H).'> it liasliccii jiulilishing its" Aniviles", and since 1907 a journal, "La Vie Nouvelle."
The extremely original association of the "Sillon"
(furrow), attractive to some, disquieting to others,
was founded in 1894 in the crypt of the Stanislas
college and became, in 1898, under the direction of
M. Marc Sangnier, a focus of social, popular, and
democratic action. M. Sangnier and his friends de-
velop, in their Cercles d'iiudes, and propagate, in
public meetings of the most enthusiastic character, the
twofold idea that democracy is the type of social
organization which tends to the highest development
of conscience and of civic responsibility in the individ-
ual, and that this organization needs Christianity for
its realization. To be a sillonniste, according to the
adherents of the Sillon, it is not enough merely to
profess a doctrine, but one must live a life more
fully Christian and fraternal. The Sillon has held a
national congress every year since 1902; that of 1909
brought together more than three thousand members.
The character of the organization has exposed it to
lively criticism ; its reception has not been the same in
all dioceses. But in spite of obstacles, the sillonnistes
continue their activity, often independently of, but
never in opposition to, the hierarchy, carrying on their
work of penetration in indifferent or hostile surround-
ings. They have a review, " Le Sillon", and a news-
paper, "L'Eveil D^mocratique", which in two years
has gained 50,000.
Catholic undertakings for the benefit of the young people of the poorer classes have developed mightily of late years. In 1900 the " Commission des Patronages ' ' drew up statistics according to which the Catholics had charge of 3588 protectories (patronages) and 32,- 574 institutions of various kinds giving Christian care to the young. In the city of Paris alone there were at that date 176 Catholic protectories, with 26,000 young girls under their care. The Gymnastic Federa- tion of the Protectories of France, formed after the gymnastic festival which was held at the Vatican on 5 to 8 October, 1905, numbers to-day (June, 1909) 549 Catholic gymnastic societies and 60,000 young people.
The State carries on its fight against the Church on the field of post-academic education: in 1894 there were in France only 34 non-religious (laiques) protec- tories; in 1907 there were 2364 non-religious protec- tories, 1366 for boys and 998 for girls. To the political groups, the journalistic work, the good works for the benefit of the young, must be added the "Catholic .social" undertakings, the earliest of which was the CEuvre des Cercles Catholiques d'Ouvriers, founded in 1871 by Count Albert de Mun, the chief result of which was the introduction by Catholics in the Legis- lature of a certain number of legislative projects on •social questions. The last five years have seen in France the birth and development, through the in- itiative of M. Henri Lorin and the Lyons journal, the "Chronique du Sud-Est", of the institution known as the semaines sociales, a series of social courses which bring together a great many priests and Catholic lay people. This idea has been imitated in Catholic Spam and Italy. Lastly a body of Jesuits have begun a valuable collection of brochures and tracts, under the title " L'Action populaire", which forms a veri- table reference library for those who wish to study social Catholicism and an inestimable source of in- formation for those who wish to join actively in the movement.
The Church in France during the First Three Years after the Law of Separation.— On 16 December, 1905, a large number of bishops issued a request to the parish priests and members of the fabric committees (/o- briqiies — see above) not to be present at the taking of inventories of church furniture prescribed by the Law of Separation except as mere witnesses and after mak- ing [dl reserves. A circular, ilutcd 10 January, 1906, ordering the agents of the 1 )cp;irt incut of Public Dimiains to open the talieruacles, intensified the feel- ing of indignation and, inconsequence of an inter-
