X
Xainctonge, Anne de, Venerable, foundress of
the Society of the Sisters of St. Ursula of the Blessed
Virgin, b. at Dijon, 21 November, 1567; d. at Dole,
8 June, 1621. She was the daughter of Jean de
Xainctonge, councillor in the Dijon Parhament, and
of Lady Marguerite Collard, both of noble birth and
virtuous life. From a window in the Hotel Xainc-
tonge Anne was able to see the Jesuit College and the
good work carried on by the Fathers; at Mass in their
church, she was edified by seeing the novices receiving
Holy Communion. Hence the idea of her future
work, that of educating girls. She considered such an
occupation fitting for religious women, who might
thus unite the active with the contemplative life.
To found an uncloistered order of women, to open
public schools for girls, "where education should be
given, not sold", were then new ideas to which the
prejudices of that time, as well as the bjind love of
her parents, were profoundly opposed. With the help
of heaven, often miraculous, under the guidance of
the Jesuit Fathers de Villars and Gentil, she over-
came all obstacles and succeeded. On 16 June, 1606,
with Claudine de Boisset and another companion she
opened her first convent at Dole in Franche-Comt6
(then Spanish territon,'). The company was founded
with "Our Lady as general, St. Ursula as lieutenant",
and the Rule of St. Ignatius as the basis of perfection.
For fifteen years Anne was a living model of all
religious virtues, in frequent and vi.sible intercourse
with her guardian angel, founding new houses as her
society spread rapidly in the east of France and
Switzerland (see Ursula op the Blessed Virgin).
After her death her reputation for heroic sanctity and
the graces obtained through her intercession led to a
process of beatification, but the many wars of the
period, followed closely by the French Revolution,
destroyed all documents. The cause was afterwards
re-estabUshed, and Anne de Xainctonge was declared
Venerable on 24 Nov., 1900.
BiNBT, La Vie . . . d'Anne de Xainctonge (1635) ; Orset, La vie de la Vfnirable ei dirote A. de X.; Mouhath. La Vie et la tertus d'A. de X.; Chozez, Vie d'A. de X. (1691); Ahnoulx. Vie de la Vtn. A. de X. (1755); Mobey. La Vin. A. de X. (1892).
Mother HfiLfeNE Marie.
Xaverian Brothers (Congregation op the Brothers of St. Francis Xavier) , an institute of lay- men, founded under epi.scopal approbation by Theo- dore James Ryken, in Belgium, in the year 1S39. To obtain the views of American prelates as to the merits of his project to estabhsh a teaching congrega- tion, he came to America (1837), and received ap- proval from seven bishops, who gave him testimonial letters. Returning to F^urope, he laid his plan before Mgr Boussena, Bishop of Bruges, who granted his sanction on condition that Ryken should first make a year's novitiate under the Redemptorists at St-Trond. After completing the novitiate Ryken established his congregation at Bruges. From the beginning trials and difficulties threatened the exist- ence of the new institute. Subjects did not come or failed to persevere, and the means of subsistence were to be had only by painful effort. In June, 1840, the brotherhood consisted of three members. In the fol- lowing year the generosity of a banker of Bruges, Dujardin, enabled the community to purcli!V<e the property known as " Het Walletje", from the moat that surrounded it, and here the brothers (\slablished their mother-house. An unknown benefactor also
left a considerable sum of money with the request that
it be devoted to helping missionary work. The words
of SaUust, "Concordia res parvae crescunt", were
adopted by the brothers as their motto. A boys'
sodahtj' was opened at Het Walletje, followed
shortly by a primary school in the same place; the
work of catechizing was taken up at the Church of
Notre-Dame, and some attention was given to the
training of deaf-mutes. The brothers' first grammar
school was opened at Bruges (1S44) and in the follow-
ing year a second school of the same rank was estab-
hslied there. Already the progressive character of
the youthful institute was shown by its sending sev-
eral members to St-Trond Normal School for higher
professional training. In 1846 the brothers were
called to England, and a school was begun at Bury,
Lancashire, but in 1856 the community removed to
Manchester. It was at Manchester that the brothers
popularized the May devotions, and promoted the
wearing of the scapular of Mount Carmel.
On 10 July, 1854, the founder sailed from Havre to take the direction of a school in Louisville, Kentucky, at the invitation of Bishop Martin J. Spalding, who had long desired the Xaverians to come to the United States. The pioneers were Brothers Paul, Hubert, Stanislaus, Stephen, and Bernardine. The Xaverians took charge of several parochial schools there, and finally (1S64) opened an institution under their own auspices, which still exists as St. Xavier's College, and had an attendance of five hundred students in 1910. When Bishop Spalding became Archbishop of Baltimore (1864), he invited the congregation to conduct St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. The Xaverians decided to make Baltimore the centre of their activities in the United States, and they purchased a site just beyond the western limits of the city, where in 1876 a novitiate for the United States was opened. The first general chapter was held at Bruges (1869); meanwhile the brothers were extending their work in England. They had estab- Ushed a house for novices at Hammersmith (1861), near the Normal Training College, in order that the young members might follow the courses there. Two years later a new mission was accepted. The Duchess of Leeds, an American of the Cat on family of Mary- land, had just founded an orphanage at Hastings, Sussex, and the Xaverians were asked to take charge. By a coincidence, the land on which St. Marj-'s Industrial School, Baltimore, stands is known as the Duchess of Leeds estate. The foundation at Hast- ings was removed to Mayfield, and was gradually diverted from its original plan as an orphanage, and became a successful boarding school, which has at present several fine buildings. The main structure, Gothic in its features, was designed by Pugin. Clap- ham College, adjoining Clapham Common, London, has developed from a small beginning made in the early sixties, to an influentiid position among English Catholic colleges. It is a centre for the Oxford local examinations. The Catholic Collegiate Institute, as the brothers' principal school at Manchester is called, was removed to an attractive site at Victoria Park, in the suburbs of that city, in 1905. The following year a new school was opened. Since 1875 England luis formed one of the three provinces into which the institute was then divided; America and Belgium being the other two. In Belgium the brothers founded, in connexion with the mother-house, a
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