France and the Catholic Schools.
The French government has taken serious issue with the papal schools and orders of that country. Some doubts were heard in regard to whether France would be able to carry out her declared purpose of closing the institutions of the religious orders; but the institutions have been closed, and the members of the orders have sought or are seeking homes in other lands. There arrived at St. John, N. B., on March 29, twenty-one members of one of the orders expelled from France. These were on their way to Three Rivers, Quebec, where eight houses of the order have been established. The French Chamber of Deputies, on March 24, by a vote of 304 to 246, rejected all applications for authorization of the religious teaching orders, and declined to consider the proposition of allowing the orders to remain in France. A number of nuns were brought into the police court of Paris on March 26 and fined for violation of the law against associations. Their departure from the court was the occasion of demonstrations for and against the Catholic orders. The premier will at once notify all the congregations of the action taken by the government, and the minister of justice will at once begin the prosecution of all the congregations which refuse to disband, while the courts will appoint liquidators to take charge of the property of the dissolved orders. The teaching orders will be allowed to remain in France until July, unless regular public schools in their locality are available before that time. Where schools are available now the orders will be compelled to leave within one month. This action of the French government is taken very much to heart by the Holy See, and it is reported that diplomatic relations between France and the Vatican are near to the breaking point.