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kitphens, night shelters, and settlement houses.
The Central Office of Charitable Institutions investi-
gates the condition of workmen and the poor, and
conducts emi)loyinent and restoration bureaux. The
.Association of Ladies of Charity, established (lf)29)
in the parish of St-Sauveur by St. Vincent dc Paul
for the visitation of the sick poor and reconsti-
tuted in 1S4(), Ikus given rise to the Society for the
Sick Poor, tlie Society for the Sick Poor in the Sub-
urbs, and the Soiicty for the Visitation of the Poor
in the Hospitals. Mo.st parishes have their organiza-
tions of charitable women who, under the pastor's
supervision, distribute clothing and visit the poor.
The Societi dc Charite Maternelte, which dates from
1784, when it was patronized by Marie .\ntoinotte,
assists married women in their confinement without
regard to creed. In each quarter of Paris women
visitors determine the families deserving assistance.
In 1898 the society assisted 2797 women and 285.3
cliildren. The Association des Meres de Famille,
founded in 1836 by Mme Radenier, assists at child-
birth women who do not meet the conditions required
by the Socicle de Charite Matcrnelle or who are num-
bered among the disreputable poor. The (Euvre des
Faubourgs, through a number of women, visits 2000
families and 8000 children in the Paris suburbs. The
(Euire de la Misericorde (Work of Mercy), founded in
1822, assists the disreputable poor. An organization
founded in 1841 by Mgr Christophe, later Bishop of
Soissons, helps convalescent lunatics. The objects
of the (Euvre de VHospitalite du Travail are to offer a
free temporary shelter without distinction of creeil or
nationality to every homeless woman or girl who has
determined to work for an honourable livelihood, to
employ its clients at useful tasks, to endeavour to re-
vive the habit of working in those who have lost it,
and to assist them in securing honourable employment
which will also enable them to provide for the future.
This organization, founded in 1881 under the direct ion
of Sister St. Antoine, a member of the Order of Cal-
vary, between 1881 and 1903 gave shelter to 70,240
women. In 1894 Sister St. Antoine annexed to it the
(Euvre du Travail a Domicitc pour les Meres de Famille
(Association for procuring liome-work for mothers of
families) which between 1892 and 1902 assisted 7449
mothers. The Maison de Travail for men, founded
in 1892 by M. de Laubespin, performs the same ser-
vice for unemployed and homeless men, and is also
in charge of the Sisters of Calvary.
The CathoUcs of Paris have taken part in the syndi- cate movement by the creation in 1887 of the syn- dicate of commercial and industrial employees, by the organization of the Aiguille (a professional associa- tion of patronesses and women employees and workers on clothing), and by the Union Centrnlc, made up of five professional syndicates of working-girls, business employees, seam.stresses, servant girls, and nurses, with "La Ruche syndicale" as their organ. The great Society of St. Nicholas, founded in 1827 by Mgr de Bervanger and Count Victor de Noailles and di- rected by a staff of Catholic laymen, has four houses (Paris, Issy, Igny, and Buzenval), where it gives a professional education to boys whom it adopts as early as their eighth year. The Society of the Friends of Childhood, founded in 1828, is concerned with the education and apprenticeship of poor boys. The Ecole commerciale de Francs Bourgeois, created in 1843 by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, prepares pupils for commercial, industrial, and administrative professions. Numerous homes and restaurants for young working girls have been founded by Catholics. The Charitable Society of St. Francis Regis was founded in 1826 by M. Gassin to facilitate the reli- gious and civil marriage of the poor of the diocese and the legitimatization of their natural children. The day-nurseries, which care for children from 1.5 days to 3 years of age while their mothers are employed,
date from M. Marbeau's foundation in 1844. The
Sisters of St. Paul have founded in the parishes of St-
V'incent-de-Paul and St-Si'verin a .society for the relief
of mothers who wish tlicir children to remain at
home. The (Euvre de I'Adojdiiin w:is fouiKled in 1859
by Abb6 Maitrias to gather as many orplians as pos-
sible. Out of so many other a,s,socia1 ions, the following
must be mentioned: the -Vssociatioti des .Icunes Eco-
nomes which, under the ilircclidti of llic Sisters of St.
Vincent de Paul, uses the generous donations of a large
number of young wonu'u for the apjirent icing and
employment of poor girls; the Society of St. Anne,
founded in 1824; the Society for Abandoned Children,
founded in 1803; the Society for the Adoption of
.Abandoned Little Girls, founded in 1879 (all con-
cerned with finding homes for orphans); the Society
of the Child Jesus, which shelters during their con-
valescence poor girls who have been discharged from
There is a recent tendency towards the complete
reorganization of Catholic charity in a single quarter
by the centralization of all charitable departments for
the development and protection of family life. For
example the Fresh -Air Society for Mothers and Chil-
dren, founded by Mile Chaptal in 1901, includes; (1)
a department for the investigation of home conditions;
(2) one for free consultations for poor mothers and their
nursing children; (3) one for assisting mothers whose
confinement takes place at home; (4) one for the dis-
tribution of tickets for meat, cereal, or farinaceous
food for women who have been confined; (6) the fresh
air department, which sends a number of the women
of the district into the country. The Society of
Ste-Rosalie al.so combines a number of admirable
works which perpetuate the memorj- of the good done
in the Faubourg St-Marcel during the .July Monarchy
by Sister Rosalie Rendu, who worked in collabora-
tion with Vicomte Armand de Mclun. The Working
Women's Society of Our Lady of the Rosary was the
nucleus of a flourishing parish in a district previously
deprived of all religious help. The Union Familiale,
foimded at Charonne by Mile Gahery in 1899, has
completely transformed the district; it has established
a Frobelian nursery for the small children, and re-
ceives children after school hours; since 1904 it as-
sembles families in a family educational circle; it or-
ganizes groups of "little mothers," little girls of ten,
who every Thursday take care of 3 or 4 children; it has
gardening classes and a department for trousseaux,
and since 1900 it has had vacation colonies, known as
fre.sh air societies. The original congregation of the
Blind Sisters of St. Paul, founded in 1851 by Abba
Juge and Anne Bergunion, looks after blind young
women.
According to the report of the Abbe Fonsagrives to the Diocesan Congress of 1908, the Archdiocese of Paris has 356 Catholic patronages, of which 63 are for male pupils of the free schools, 79 for male pupils of the lay schools, 101 for female pupils of the free schools, 113 for female pupils of the lay schools. At that date lay patronages were only 245. The Society for the Patronage of Young Working Girls, founded in 1851, receives young girls after their First Commun- ion. The Sisters of the Presentat ion of Tours conduct the association and society for mutual relief for young business women; the Sisters Servants of Mary and Sisters of the Cross secure situations for servants. The Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul have societies called "patronages internes", which shelter working-girls who are orphans or who live at a distance from their families. The (Euvre des Pelites Presences el le Vesii- aire des Petils Prisonniers, founded in 1892 by the Comtesse de Biron, looks after the preservation of young girls discharged from prison. The Catholic International Society for the Protection of Young Women, organized at Freiburg in 1897 after the Or- ganization of the Protestant International Union of
