Course 3, Chapter 47

Christianity preserved and propagated.- -Council of Trent. — St. Charles Borromeo, St. Theresa. — The • rsulines. — End of the Sixteenth Century.

1. Why was the council of Trent assembled?

The council of Trent, the eighteenth and last general council, composed of two hundred and thirtyeight bishops, was assembled to condemn the heresies

of Protestants and to reform the morals of Catholics. The wise regulations which it established were carried into practice, in different countries, by the great saints whom God raised up; among them was St. Charles Borromeo.

2. Who was St. Charles Borromeo 'f

St. Charles Borromeo, archbishop of Milan, was the great restorer of ecclesiastical discipline and the model of charity, of which he gave striking proofs during the pestilence of Milan. Whilst he maintained in all its splendor the virtue of the clergy, St. Theresa rendered that of the monasteries no less conspicuous.

3. Who was St. Theresa?

St. Theresa, who reformed the order of Mt. Carmel, or Carmelites, was born in Spain. Educated piously, she came near being lost by the reading of novels; but, touched by the grace of God, she became a religious, led a life wholly angelic, and revived the fervor of a great many monasteries.

4. What is the congregation of the Ursulines?

The congregation of the Ursulines was established by the blessed Angela of Brescia to bring sinners back to virtue, instruct the ignorant and diffuse through the world the good odor of Jesus Christ. It rendered very great service to the church, as did the religious orders established at that time for the relief of corporeal miseries.

5. Name some of these orders?

1st, The Brothers Hospitalers, devoted to nursing the sick; 2d, the Somaxques, a religious community who afforded relief and consolation to the unhappy of every kind; 3d, the Brother? of a good death, founded by St. Camillus de Lellis, who devoted themselves to procuring for the sick the grace of a good death.

332 CATECHISM OF