PRIESTS AND NUNS OF NOBLE BIRTH

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 14, 6 April 1899, Page 5

PRIESTS AND NUNS OF NOBLE BIRTH

The Taqehlalt of Berlin says : — Father Constantine is the name of a monk of the Benedictine congregation, who was once Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst, and who has been lately ordained at Seckau. He is another of those aristocrats who belong to the Benedictine congregation of Beuron, which has existed for scarcely thirty-six years. In the course of that short period, that branch of the Order has had an extraordinary development. The monks there devote themselves to art, painting, statuary and architecture, and in ecclesiastical painting have gained for themselves a distinct position. From their ranks have come the abbot primate of the whole Benedictine Order, Father Hildebrand, once Captain Count Hemptine, a Belgian. He was joined by the Saxon Major and Baron von Ocr, now Father Sebastian (the teacher of Prince Max of Saxony, who has himself become a priest), the aged Baron Drais (who died as Father Pius), and Prince Edmund Radziwill, of Kulturkampf fame (who died in 18!h"> as Father Benedict, prior of the Portugese Monastery, Cucujaes). The members of the Beuronic Abbey of Emmaus, at Prague, include a thin, serious-looking monk, choir-brother Karl ; formerly his name was Prince Edward of Schonburg-Hartenstcin, and he was a clever captain of Uhlans. One day he rode straight away from the rnanceuvres in Gallicia to a monastery and faced the difficult task of following the course of philosophy and theology with the view of becoming a priest. The example of Brother Karl appears to have a stimulating effect on others of his class. In the old Styrian monastery ol Seckau, which received new lif'u on being given over to the Benedictine monks by Prince- I'iwhop Zwerger, of Seckau. Father Constance von Hohenlohe, an imitator of Prince Schonburg. hus now as comride. under the name of choir-brother ileii'-y, Count dA hiring, the descendant of an ancient Fr> nch family. In tue Sum how Convent, Prague, which follow:, the Kune rule, quite a host of nuble ladies have taken the veil, such d>- I'lhice^-s Mane of Schwarzenberg (Sister Benedicts), members of the f.unihc ol Thau llohpnM.ein (Sister Agnes . Salui-lleitlci-cheidt) Sifter Ed'-ltrud s), Mcravigiia (Sister Flavia), llechbeig (bister The ivsu). an ! a daughter of Princess Henrietta (now Sister Agde^lumUs).