institutions of the kind he desired, and not a few rel gious congregations specially devoted to such work. After some delays and difficulties he at last arranged that the Brothers of Charity should open an institution for boys. This is the present flourishing institution of Buckley Hall, Rochdale, where more than 250 Catholic boys receive an excellent education and learn trades and handicrafts. Branch institutions have since been opened at Liverpool and Preston.

The present sketch, however, has to do solely with the provision made for the girls. The story is told that during the heat of a sultry summer day the good Bishop came to the gate of an old Cistercian monastery in Ghent, which, after the French Revolution, had been given to a newlyfounded congregation of sisters, devoted to the care of the poor and sick. Shown into the parlour and being weary and footsore he dropped into an armchair; and when the Superior-General entered a few minutes later, she found him fast asleep! The fatigue of the prelate probably made a strong personal appeal to the good mother's interest and sympathy. Any way, after some discussion, the important decision was taken, that very day, by which the Sisters of Charity of Ghent extended their labours beyond the frontiers of Belgium within which they were hitherto confined; and in September, 1888, a small colony of nuns came to England to establish the first home of the Catholic Rescue and Protection Society. A fine block of stone buildings, about twelve miles north of Manchester, which had been well known in years gone by as the Holly Mount Grammar School,' was just then up for sale. Dr. Vaughan purchased it. The new colony was installed; and thus the Poor Law School for Girls' began its career. Before going further, we may remark that this, the official title of the institution, is never, or scarcely ever, used, except in Government documents; and is, in fact, quite misleading. For nothing could be more foreign to the spirit and methods of the Holly Mount convent than the ideas commonly associated with British workhouse institutions.

The nuns who now began their work in Holly Mount

belonged to the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary,' who even then (and still more now) were a large and flourishing congregation. They are ordinarily known as the 'Belgian Sisters of Charity.' They were founded after the Concordat of 1802 by Canon Triest, of Lovendeghem, in Flanders, who from his tender compassion towards every form of human suffering has been named the St. Vincent de Paul of Belgium,' The congregation, which began very simply in the shape of a few pious young girls teaching catechism to poor children in Lovendeghem, has now foundations in Europe, Asia, and Africa; and embraces within the scope of its activities almost every kind of charitable work. Among the works carried on by the Belgian Sisters of Charity may be mentioned, day and boarding schools to suit every class, including boarding schools within the reach of the daughters of very small farmers, and even labourers; orphanages, industrial schools, technical schools, including those for domestic economy; hospitals, homes for incurables, houses of retirement for widowed ladies, and such like; asylums for blind, deaf and dumb, and otherwise defective children, lunatic asylums, etc. The congregation has specialized in these two latter forms of human misery; the best and most up-to-date methods of treatment of mental disease are specially studied by the sisters, and adopted in the homes, with the result that a large number of patients get cured. The sisters get their first religious training in the mother-house in Ghent, where over a hundred novices of various nationalities—Belgian, German, French, Irish, and English-are being trained together. The training is sufficiently severe, and manual works form a prominent part of the daily routine. As there are no Lay Sisters in the congregation, all, without exception, must take part in the common work of the house, no matter what their rank in the world or their education may have been. Consequently, university graduates, who are numerous in the congregation, 'conservatoire' music diplomatists, and sisters, engaged in teaching the most advanced classes in literature and science, must take their turn at

the wash-tub and the ironing-room, not only during the noviceship, but throughout their whole religious life.

As occurs so frequently in case of undertakings destined to do great things for God's glory, the Holly Mount institution had to face at its inception much opposition and very severe trials. The pioneers who first came to found the home were all of Belgian nationality, as the congregation had not yet any Irish or English members. These sisters, full of zeal and self-sacrifice and fully capable of conducting the institution successfully under normal conditions, now found themselves confronted with difficulties quite unforeseen. They were called on to face, without any previous preparation for such a task, the new and, to them, quite unfamiliar requirements of a British institution. The home was, of course, subject to inspection by the Poor Law authorities! and an amount of formalities and red tape, which were quite strange to these 'foreign ladies' was required. Besides, they were regarded with no friendly eye by their neighbours as well as by the Poor Law inspectors, who, as a rule, regarded them as intruders and were on the look out for matter to report to the municipal authorities. Then there were financial difficulties. The home was supposed to be self-contained; and the sisters came to the understanding that no financial help would be needed from the Belgian funds of the congregation. But they soon found the strain of life very difficult. Only very inadequate contributions could be obtained from the Rescue Society. This was composed mainly of Catholics of the labouring classes, who could afford very little help. Although the Society was supposed to provide for the support of the children they sent in from the city slums, the amount of their contributions was scarcely sufficient to keep their little wards from starvation, not to speak of doing the necessary share in meeting the general expenditure of the house. The gathering in of the little children from the various workhouses of the diocese was mostly managed by the priests. This was in itself an arduous task as the priests had to contend with the opposition and bigotry of

the Protestant guardians. These latter, devoid of all sympathy with the Catholic attitude, and wishing to retain the children in their own well-paid institutions, cut down to the lowest figure the weekly sum allowed for the children's support. It must be remembered that forty years ago the standing of the English Catholics, even in Lancashire, was far different from what it is at present. Their numbers were smaller; and above all they were too poor to enforce their rights. They had mostly to take meekly what they could get, and be thankful.

Hence, the Holly Mount institution during the first fifteen years of its existence had to maintain a continual struggle, not only against hardship and poverty, but against prejudice, misunderstanding, and false reports. Finally, matters reached such a crisis, that in 1901 the home so cherished by Dr. Vaughan was in danger of being closed. Some hostile and bigoted guardians and other enemies of the institution got up a violent press campaign against it. They founded their case upon the fact, which was substantially true, that the children, who were by law the wards of the Poor Law Union, were inadequately provided for in this institution, run by foreign and unknown women under the patronage and direction of the Italian Church.' They did not add, of course, that the defects, such as they were, were mainly due to the parsimony and hostility of the Poor Law authorities. As a result of this campaign, which, of course, included much false propaganda, the guardians had practically come to the decision that all grants from the Poor Law Union were to cease, and the wards of the Union to be restored to the institutions established by law for their proper education and unbringing. This decision, if carried out, would make the continuance of the home impossible.

But God was watching over the work, which was undertaken for His glory; and circumstances, arranged no doubt by Providence, occurred, which had the effect of averting the threatened calamity, and which placed the Holly Mount institution on a solid basis, enjoying a reputation for

excellence and efficiency second to no similar institution in Britain or Ireland. Just about this time there had come into the noviceship of the Sisters of Charity of Ghent an influx of Irish postulants. In the year 1902 these had become so numerous that the Superior-General determined to send a contingent to Holly Mount, to aid the struggling institution. Among these was a young sister, who had lived for some years in Belgium before entering the noviceship. This lady, who had remarkable gifts of intellect and character, had read a course of medicine and hygiene in a Belgian university. She had also considerable hospital experience and had seen a good deal of social work among the poor. This sister was appointed superior of Holly Mount, just at that time that the delegates of the Poor Law guardians had come for their final inspection. It was pretty well known that their report was to be followed by the fatal decision which would break up the institution. The new superior, as a result of her first interview with these august officers of the law, succeeded in inducing them to defer their final report for a few months, and to visit the institution again before issuing it. Meanwhile, she set to work with rare energy and ability, taking care, above all, to utilize the powerful aids she had at her disposal in the fervent prayers of the community and children, to reverse the threatened decision. By her own personal influence and that of the other Irish and English-born sisters, who were familiar with British conditions, many forces were set to work to counteract the attitude of the hostile guardians and officials. Money was borrowed, and other funds procured from different sources, to improve the material equipment of the place. For this purpose very considerable sums were sent from the mother-house in Ghent. A new régime was inaugurated, and new and improved methods were adopted in the management of the children. The result was that when the inspectors returned after the prescribed time, they were easily persuaded to put off the issue of their report for another period of grace; and when the dreaded document was at last promulgated, about a