Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/457

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HOLY


403


HOLT


Holy Communion outside Mass a priest should always wear a surplice and stole, and there should be two lights burning on the altar. Communion may now be given at Masses said in black vestments.

Roman Ritual: Catalani, Ritmile Hnmanum de Communione (Rome, 1850): Baruffaldo, Rilunb: Rumanum Commentatum, XXIII, XXIV (Florence, 1847); Lehmkuhl, Theologia Mornlis II. De Eucharistia Sumptione (Freiburg. 1900); Gihr, L'Eucha- ristic (Rmne. 1900): Gasparri. TrncUttus Canonicus de Ewrha- rislim Saeramenlo (Rome, 1900): De Herdt, Prniis Lihirgia Sacra, III, De Euchnrislia: Administriilmne (Freiburg im Br., 1904): Dalgairns, HoZi/ Communiun (Dublin, 1892): Hedley, The Holy Eucharist (London, 1907); .Mi>ureau and Dublan- CHY in Vacant, Dictionnaire de thcologie catholique, s. v. Com- munion Eucharistique.

Patrick Moeriseoe.

Holy Cross, Congregation of, a body of priests and lay brothers constituted in the religious state by the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and bearing the common name of Religious of Holy Cross. The essential purpose of the congregation is threefold: the perfection of individual members by the practice of the evangelical coimsels; the sanctification of their fellow-men l)y preaching the Divine word, especially in country places and foreign missions; and the instruction and Christian education of youth. This religious body was in its inception a by-product of the great French Revolution, or, rather, of the reaction from the frenzied hatred of religion and religious education that marked the decade from the meeting of the States General in 1789 to the end of the Directory in 1799. As at present constituted, the congregation is the result of Rome's officially uniting two distinct French societies, the Brothers of St. Joseph, founded at RuilU- in 1820, and the Auxiliary Priests of Le Mans, established in 1835. An excellent summary of the purposes and original activities of the amalgamated associations is given in the following letter, dated 4 May, 1840, and addressed to Pope Gregory XVI by Mgr. Bouvier, Bishop of Le Mans: " Basile-Antoine Moreau, honorary canon, and former professor of theology and holy scripture in our diocesan seminary, has, with the consent of the present bishop, established a house near the city of Le Mans, and has there assembled certain priests burning with love for souls and enamoured of poverty and obedience, who follow the community life under his direction, and are always ready to announce the word of God, to hear confessions, to conduct retreats for communi- ties, etc. They are called Auxiliary Priests and are al- ready fifteen in number. They live on voluntary offerings and on the profits accruing from the board and tuition of a hundred pupils. As the Brothers of the Christian Doctrine do not take charge of establish- ments unless they can live at least three together and annually receive sufficient support amounting to .$120 each they cannot be procured for schools in the coun- try parishes and the small towns. A pious pastor of Ruille, Jacques-Frangois Dujari(!, about the year 1820, gathered into his presbytery a number of virtuous young men, and prepared them to become primary teachers for the parishes in which the services of the Christian Brothers were unattainalsle. Thus were founded the Brothers of St. Joseph. The present Bishop of Le Mans, seeing that the novitiate of these Brothers could not be suitably maintained in the country district, took measures to transfer them to the episcopal city. With the consent of the founder who was still alive, he gave to the congregation as superior the aforenamed Father Moreau. The latter assumed the heavy burden and united the novitiate to the Auxiliary Priests. This new institute already num- bers eighty professed and forty-five novices."

Father Moreau became the first superior general of the congregation, a position which he held until 1866, seven years prior to his death. In addition to his beneficent labours as head of his own community, he had founded, in 1841, the Congregation of the Sisters of Holy Cross, a religious body destined to


accomplish much for the glory of God. Father Dujarie, also, was the founder of the Sisters of Pro- vidence, a society of religious women whose activities are well known on both sides of the Atlantic. His name is perpetuated in Dujari^ Institute, Notre Dame (Indiana), a house for the formation of young men aspiring to the Brotherhood of Holy Cross. The name of the Congregation sprang naturally from that of the commune in which the home of the Auxiliary Priests was situated, it being called after the old church of Holy Cross, erected in the sixth century by St. Bertrand, Bishop of Le Mans. In the early years of the Congregation, the priests and professed clerics were called Salvatorists, and the professed brothers, Josephites; but these appellatives were discarded by the general chapter of 1872, since which date the two branches of the congregation have been styled simply Fathers and Brothers of Holy Cross. The letters C.S.C, following their individual names, are abbre- viations of Congregatio Sanct(V Crucis.

The new institute responded so well to the needs of the period and grew so rapidly in numbers that, seven- teen years after the date of Mgr. Bouvier's letter to Gregory X^T, it received the formal endorsement of the Apostolic See. The constitution and rules of the congregation were solemnly approved by Rome on 13 May, 1857. According to this constitution, of which subsequent modifications by decrees of general chap- ters have been authorized by the Holy See, the con- gregation is governed by a superior general, always a priest, who is elected for life by the general chapter, and who is aided by four assistant-generals, two of them priests, and two Ijrothers. These assistants are elected by the general chapter for a term of six years. The Superior C^ieneral is represented in Rome by a resident procurator general. This functionary, like the assistant-generals, is elected by the general chap- ter for a six years' term, as are also the provincials or superiors of the different provinces into which the congregation is territorially divided. The general chapter, which convenes every six years, is composed of the officials already mentioned, and of delegates, both priests and brothers, from each province, the number of delegates being proportioned to the nu- merical strength of the religious whom they represent. Each separate province is governed by a provincial and his council, consisting of two priests and two brothers. The provincial chapter, held annually, and composed of the provincial, his council, and representatives from each house under their jurisdiction, legislates for the affairs of the province in much the same way as the general chapter does for the whole congregation. Finally, in each house of the congregation there is a local council, consisting of the superior and of mem- bers varying in number according to the muster-roll of the religious resident therein.

In the more restricted sphere of the individual life, the Fathers and Brothers of Holy Cross assist in com- mon every day at meditation, holy Mass, particular examen, beads, spiritual reading, and night prayer. The daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament, as well as the recitation of the Divine Office by the fathers, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin by the teaching brothers, and the saying thrice daily of the seven Our Fathers and Hail Marys by the brothers engaged in manual labour, is left as to time to the convenience of the individual religious. The weekly exercises of piety include the chapter of accusation (the avowing to the community of one's exterior infractions of the rules), the Way of the Cross, and an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Previous to the promulgation, in 1905, by Pius X, of the decree " Sacra Tridentina Synodus", relative to frequent and daily Communion, the religious of Holy Cross were obliged by their rule to go to Confession every week and to receive Holy Communion at least once a week. Since the publication of the decree in question, its pre-