CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS ORDERS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 45, 7 March 1884, Page 9

CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS ORDERS.

« *«*;: (From an article on "The Historical Development of Modern Nursing," by Dr. Abraham Jacobi, in the Popular Science Monthly.") All the orders mentioned were composed of Catholics. Not one of them but was intimately associated with the Church. In this connection it ought not to be forgotten that all the culture and knowledge of the mediaeval period was confined within the limits of the Church. Within its fold the whole progress of mankind, slow though it was. toward humanistic evolution, was developed. Thus the efforts of the Catholic Church in favour of the poor and sick must duly he appreciated, the more so, as the so-called " Reformation " party exhibits nothing but blank leaves in the ethical and human development. The revolutionary movement prepared by powerful minds for centuries, and finally carried out by Luther, did not result in any good to the sick and poor for a long time. Indeed, the success of the Reformation -was in part due to the greed of German princes, who gained a rich harvest by appropriating monasteries, hospitals, and all other pospessions of the Catholic Church. Thus the Lutheran ChuTch, or Churches, were left so poor that if they had the will they had not the power to make any pecuniary sacrifices in interest of the poor and sick. But even that will they had not, they could not have. For the first axiom in Luther's doctrine was this, that not work performed, but faith only made the Christian. That doctrine was a long stride backward ; it fired the imagination of some bigots, chilled the hearts of most men, sustained the egotist, and created dissensions. Never was there a greater failure. The poetry of the Church gone, its efficiency gone, that was the " reformation." Not until some decades ago did we know of Procestant unions established on the plan of their Catholic predecessors. But the male orders never tried to imitate the useful example of the Catholics. They did not care for the sick or poor. Their aim was and is " home missions." They are replete with faith, distribute Bibles and glory in the conversion of that Jew who was baptised, once or often, half a dozen years ago, for ready cash. The women, as always, have done better.