school at the Church of St. Sulpice, and twelve subsidiary schools at points chosen for the convenience of the children and their parents. In equipping these schools with teachers he had an advantage with which few pastors are favored. He drew upon the resources of the adjoining ecclesiastical seminary, founded by himself, and thus obtained a corps of teachers who were the mainstay of the school, instead of being the element of weakness which, among us, renders so many Sunday-schools inefficient.

These young men, before the time of class, went through the streets, bell in hand, gathering the children together; they entered homes with an invitation to the parents to accompany their children; some of them even arranged to teach catechism at certain hours in the common schools, in order that all might be reached. "I begin," wrote Father Olier, "to perceive the design of God for the reformation of this parish. He wishes us, first of all, to secure the youth by imparting to them Christian principles and the fundamental maxims of salvation ; and he will effect this by the ministry of the young students of the seminary." His confidence was not in vain. The novel spectacle of ecclesiastics, most of them of noble birth, going through the streets and into houses to gather pupils for their catechism classes produced a profound impression; and they soon secured for all the schools a normal attendance of four thousand children, besides a goodly number of parents.

II.

The organization as first effected has been kept essentially the same down to our own day. In certain details, however, changes have been made to suit varying circumstances. Thus, as new parishes were formed, the need for subsidiary schools at different points in the Faubourg diminished. To-day, besides the great school gathered in the Church of St. Sulpice, there exists only the school attached to the social-settlement house of the parish. Moreover, the establishment of the new parishes has naturally resulted in a greatly reduced attendance; yet still the school remains an exceptionally large one. Last year 1,740 names were inscribed on the rolls, while the attendance each week averaged 1,400 to 1,500. Yet another change is the smaller attendance of adults for instruction, mainly because few in the parish are now left uninstructed in youth. However,

even to-day parents often assist at the sessions of the school with their children; and besides, a class for mendicants is still kept up and is well attended.

The aspect of the school to-day presents more variety than one would see perhaps in an American Sunday-school. The students range in age from six to twenty, even to thirty years. A remarkable feature, indeed, at least to an American visitor, is the large number of young men and women in attendance. A good number of the pupils work during the week in factory, store, or office; over 500 come from the state lyceums or colleges, or from the public schools, which are now positively irreligious; about 450 are pupils of Catholic schools; while nearly 700 are children who are being educated at home in good Catholic families or in private boarding schools. The catechetical school, therefore, must be so arranged, graded, and conducted as to meet the needs of these widely different souls. The actual result is the division of the entire school into twelve principal classes. Each of the classes again is divided into a number of groups, according to the needs and best interests of each. Six of the twelve principal classes are made up of those who have spent two years of preparation in the First Communion course, have successfully passed the examinations, and have made their First Holy Communion and been confirmed. Of the six remaining classes, three are devoted to the boys and girls who are following the course of two years in preparation for the reception of their First Holy Communion and Confirmation; while the three other classes take care of the younger children. To the large contingent from the state schools five of the twelve grand classes are given over: three to the post-confirmation course, one in the course of preparation for the reception of First Holy Communion, and one in the primary course.

In this school every rank of society is represented. In one of my visits a genuine boy of the streets was pointed out to me, who had been won over by one of the seminarian teach. ers, and who was instrumental in bringing with him to catechism class every Sunday his formerly wild and unruly companions from the poorest and most neglected part of the old Latin Quarter. Others of the children were from the fashionable homes of parents who had themselves, many of them, received the same instruction in the same school, and who are

now prominent members of society. Others still are from that large middle class of society known in France as the bourgeoisie. Conspicuous in the sea of white, childish faces that I saw, was one of the deepest black. It belonged to the little son of an African chief whom an agent of the French government had visited in his native country, and from whom he had received permission to take back with him to France this child of the jungle. The little fellow, when I saw him, was a prominent member of the First Communion class.

The large corps of eighty seminarians actively engaged in teaching every Sunday permits the organizing of each class into so many distinct groups or divisions as to make it possible for the teacher's influence to reach every pupil. The teachers of the divisions are subordinate to one of their own number who, as head, attends to the general working and welfare of the entire class; the head teachers, in turn, are subject to one of the reverend Professors of the Seminary, on whom rests the responsibility for the entire school.

The worth of these seminarian - catechists may be inferred from their achievements in later life. Thus taking at haphazard one particular period: we find among the teachers engaged in the work at one and the same time the names of eight who later became archbishops or bishops, of three who became famous members of different religious orders, of one who died with the reputation of a saint, a victim of his devotion to the sick, of another who gave his life to the foreign missions, besides many who became devoted parish priests. And so it runs for every period, for to the Seminary of St. Sulpice come a goodly proportion of the most promising candidates for the priesthood from all France, and it is particularly from among these that the teachers for the catechism-classes are chosen.

The classes are held every Sunday morning in connection with Mass, save the post-graduate class for young women, which takes place Sunday afternoon. Each session lasts two hours, including the time for Mass. Two classes begin at eight o'clock, two at nine, and seven at ten. Besides this Sunday session, the children preparing for First Holy Communion have class also once or twice a week, during a certain period just previous to the reception of the Sacrament. Most of the classes are given in the basement of the church, but each has a separate small chapel there fitted up especially for its use. The great base

ment or crypt of the church is so planned as to represent one of the ancient catacombs with its long passageway and lateral chapels; each chapel given over to a class is frescoed in the style of the catacombs and dedicated to some early martyr. Thus is vividly brought home to the mind of the children an idea of the early Church, an illustration of the story of Fabiola which many among them have already read, a sense of the reality of martyrdom for the faith.

The exercises open with a short prayer, after which the head teacher announces the mystery or the saint commemorated in the Mass about to be offered. Each class has its own Mass celebrated in its own chapel; hymns are sung throughout, with an interruption for the reading of the Gospel in the vernacular. Mass ended, the entire class listens to a recitation of the lesson, which is the same for all. This test before a large crowd stimulates the children to do their best. It is succeeded by a private recitation in each group, the purpose of which is to see that every child has learned the lesson. Then comes a short instruction by one of the catechists, during which the children, or their parents for them, take notes on what is being said. These instructions follow a fixed plan, so that in the course of three or four years the whole cycle of religious teaching is completed. The pupils are then interrogated concerning the instruction of the previous Sunday, and for each correct answer a good point or mark is accorded. It is surprising how anxious the children are to obtain these good points and how carefully they treasure them. Next comes the recitation of several verses from the Gospels by volunteers who have previously handed in their names in writing. For each successful recitation here also a good point is given. Then there are interrogations and an explanation of the Gospel read in the Mass for that Sunday; this exercise is not obligatory, yet in all the classes it is one of the features most liked.

The teachers now make a report to the class on the written exercises which were handed in the previous Sunday and corrected during the week. The aim in these written home exercises is to reproduce the last instruction delivered before the class by one of the seminarians. To facilitate the children's work, however, a written synopsis of what is to be said is given to each child before the instruction is delivered. By this means. the child follows the instruction more easily and intelligently,

and can also at home, without great effort, reproduce in his own words what had been said.

There is a certain form into which the written task is to be thrown, for it is laid down that each theme is to end with a short prayer of the child's own wording and a practical resolution for the ensuing week which the child must strive to realize in his own life. This is drawn from the instruction by the child itself. If any errors have crept into these written reports they are marked with a pencil by the seminarian who examines them, and are, moreover, corrected publicly before the assembled class. For this written work also, when well done, the coveted good points are given. After this there is a short moral instruction or advice, generally of a very practical character, delivered by the head teacher to the entire class. Finally comes the short closing prayer and dismissal.

Besides this regular Sunday programme, there is another series of exercises which recur less frequently: some of these are intended to favor a growth in piety, others to keep up and, if need be, to increase the pupil's application to the study of the catechism. Thus once a month, in the chapels where the advanced classes assemble, a Mass is offered, at which it is customary for all the students to receive Holy Communion and to listen to a short sermon.

Then every year, just before the time for the reception of First Communion, four separate retreats are given, one to each of four different classes of the school. In this way all the children are reached at the same time. Confession once a month is expected from all preparing in the two-year course for the reception of their First Communion, and once every two months from the children in the primary classes. There are, of course, in order to arouse and keep up the children's efforts in study, the inevitable examination from time to time, and at the end of the year a general distribution of premiums.

From a knowledge of the details of the organization of the catechetical school of St. Sulpice the reader will readily perceive that what is aimed at is not simply instruction but the Christian education of the child. Education is the end sought; instruction is but one of the means to that end. The catechists have impressed upon them the fact that instruction simply furnishes the mind of the child with a certain necessary knowledge, while education draws out, elevates, and develops all