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principle. No fault is found with the equipment or efficiency of the public schools on the score of secular instruction or ethical standing, but the contention of Roman Catholics, and of some other religious bodies as well, is that these schools are wanting in an important respect, that they lack an essential factor in the training of youth, viz., the element of religious instruction and influence, and for Roman Catholics, of course, religious influence means the specific influence of the Roman Catholic religion. Hence throughout the period of the rapid growth of Catholicism in the United States the school question has always been a matter of concern and frequently of controversy. The practical impossibility of giving religious instruction in the public schools, frequented as they are by pupils representing the various Christian denominations and the Hebrew faith, is recognized by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike, and though it has been sometimes suggested that a general knowledge of Christian truth might be imparted without giving offense to the adherents of any of the sects, the idea has been opposed especially by Roman Catholics who contend that all religious instruction, to be of any value or even safe, must be positive and doctrinal, and consequently denominational in character. But the zeal of Roman Catholics for the establishment and maintenance of parochial schools is not determined solely or even primarily by the desire to secure for their children proper religious instruction. This need can be, and often has to be, provided for in other ways. Of still greater importance in their esteem is what may be termed the religious atmosphere of the Roman Catholic school, with its multifarious subtile influences, all tending to foster reverence and love for the Church and all things pertaining thereto. The schools are organized under the immediate direction of the parish clergy, and are for the most part in charge of teaching brothers and nuns whose lives, being models of devotedness and self-sacrifice, can not fail to make a deep and lasting impression on the minds of the children. These and other influences create in the parochial schools a feeling and attitude toward religion and things religious which is rarely, if ever, met with in the public schools. The same secular instruction is given as in these latter, but it is permeated throughout with a religious spirit, and Roman Catholic ideals and practides are commended by word and example. Doubtless Roman Catholics are not alone in advocating the importance and need of the religious element in the education of our American youth. Like views have often been proclaimed by representatives of other religious bodies, and within the last few years an important movement in this direction has been inaugurated by an association of eminent educators, but it is among Roman Catholics that the principle of religious education has been most widely and consistently carried out especially as regards the elementary schools.

The origin of the parochial schools in the United States dates from the early days of the Maryland colony, about the middle of the seventeenth century, and the growth of the system ever since has been intimately connected with the growth and

organization of Catholicism in the country. For more than a century development was very slow, but the American Revolution, by bringing about a relatively greater freedom for Roman Catholics than they had previously enjoyed, gave an impetus to the cause of Roman Catholic education which was later on powerfully aided by the great influx of Roman Catholic immigrants with whom came also many members of the various teaching orders. Passing over in this connection the early work of the Benedictines (see BENEDICT of NuRsIA), Dominicans (see DonHNIc, SAINT), Franciscans (see FRANCIS, SAINT, of Assisi), and Jesuits (q.v.), who generally combined educational activities with their missionary labors, mention should be made of the Christian Brothers (q.v.), and particularly of the orders of women, for it is chiefly through their zeal that the rapid development of the parochial system has been made possible. As early as 1727 the Ursuline Sisters (see UR$ULINEs) established the first sisters' school in the then French-speaking colony of New Orleans. In 1799 the founders of what was destined to become the American branch of the Visitation order (see VISITATION, NuNs OF THE) opened at Georgetown the first free school in the District of Columbia, and by the year 1850 branch houses and schools under the control of this center had been established in Baltimore, Washington, St. Louis, Mobile, and Kaskaskia, Ill. Of still greater importance was the work begun by Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Seton (q.v.), who, being a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, founded in Baltimore (1812) the American branch of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (see CHARITY, SISTERS OF, 1). This foundation proved remarkably successful, and in 1908 the community, together with the branches connected with it, comprised about 5,500 sisters with over 120,000 pupils-being about one-tenth of the total Roman Catholic school attendance in the United States. Among the other orders which have rendered important services in the cause of parochial school education are the Sisters of Mercy (see MERCY, SISTERS OF), the Sisters of St. Benedict, the Franciscan Sisters, the Sisters of St. Dominic, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and many others (see TEACHING ORDERS). Because of the great expenditure involved in the establishment and support of the parochial schools, the Roman Catholics of this country have frequently sought to obtain state recognition for their educational work and thus be relieved of the burden of taxes imposed for the maintenance of the public school system which for religious reasons they do not find satisfactory.

A notable effort in this direction was made in 1840 by the Roman Catholics of New York under the leadership of Archbishop John Hughes (q.v.). It was argued in a petition to the aldermen of the city and to the state legislature that if the same quality of secular instruction was given in the parochial as in the public schools-a point of fact to be controlled by state inspection and examinations-the former were in justice entitled to a pro rata share in the public funds set apart for school purposes. But the proposal was bitterly assailed by Protestants generally, and the project failed, as have also all subsequent efforts on the part of