Afterwards each nun has a crown or wreath put on her head by the bishop with a similar declaration and chanting. Then follow prayers, chanting, and two long nuptial benedictions upon the nuns, who first stand humbly inclined and then kneel. Then the pontiff, sitting on his seat, and wearing his mitre, pronounces the following anathema:

"By the authority of Almighty God, and of his blessed apostles Peter and Paul, we firmly and under threat of anathema forbid any one to lead off these virgins or religious persons from the divine service, to which they have been subjected under the banner of chastity, or to plunder their goods, but let them possess these in quiet. But if any one shall have dared to attempt this, let him be cursed in his house and out of his house; cursed in the city and in the country, cursed in watching and sleeping, cursed in eating and drinking, cursed in walking and sitting; cursed be his flesh and bones; from the sole of his foot to the top of his head let him have no soundness. Let there come upon him the curse of man, which the Lord through Moses in the law sent upon the sons of iniquity. Let his name be blotted from the book of the living and not written with the just. Let his part and inheritance be with Cain that slew his brother, with Dathan and Abiram, with Ananias and Sapphira, with Simon the sorceror, and Judas the traitor; and with those who said unto God, Depart from us, we desire not the path [knowledge?]' of thy ways.' Let him perish at the day of judgment; let everlasting fire devour him with the devil and his angels, unless he shall have made restitution, and come to amendment: let it be done, let it be done."

The remaining services consist principally of the mass, the delivery of the breviary to the nuns, and their return to the gate of the monastery where the pontiff formally presents them to the abbess. The pontiff then returns to the church and closes the whole with the beginning of the gospel according to John.

The "Ceremony of Reception" takes place, among the Sis

1 The Roman Pontifical, apparently by a perpetuated blunder in its various editions, has here" semitam" (= path) instead of "scientiam" (= knowledge), which is the correct reading of the Vulgate in Job 21: 14

RELIGIOUS ORDERS-MONKS, NUNS, &C.

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ters of Mercy, &c., when the novice takes the white veil; the "Ceremony of Profession" is when the novice takes the black veil and the vows with a promise "to persevere until death." Fosbroke's "British Monachism" distinguishes the profession from the consecration of a nun thus:

"That applied to any woman, whether virgin or not, could be done by an abbot or visitor of the house, after the year of probation, and change of the habit; but consecration could only be made by the bishop. Nuns were usually professed at the age of 16, but they could not be consecrated till 25; and this veil could only be given on festivals and Sundays." "In the year 446, pope Leo ordered that a nun should receive the veil, consecrated by a bishop, only when she was a virgin.”

The opposite plate, copied from one published by the American and Foreign Christian Union, gives a sufficiently accurate idea of the general appearance of nuns on such occasions.

CHAPTER IX.

THE JESUITS.

The most celebrated of all the religious orders in the Roman Catholic church is the "Society of Jesus," more commonly called the "Jesuits." The founder of this order was St. Ignatius (=Inigo) Loyola, born in 1491, the youngest son of a Spanish nobleman, and an illiterate, but enthusiastic man. Becoming an officer in the Spanish army, he was severely wounded in 1521 and taken prisoner while defending Pampeluna against the French. During his long and tedious confinement, his thoughts were turned towards a religious life, and in 1534 he and 6 (afterwards 9) friends and fellow-students at Paris formed a monastic association. Two of these associates, Francis Xavier, were the famous missionary and saint, and James Laynez (or Lainez), who was a papal legate at the council of Trent, and Loyola's successor as general of the Jesuits. 4 objects were proposed in the new order, which was approved by pope Paul III., Sept. 27, 1540: (1.) The education of youth; (2.) The instruction of adults by preaching and other means; (3.) The defense of the Roman Catholic faith against heretics and unbelievers; (4.) The propagation of Christianity among heathens and infidels by missionaries. The military principle of strict subordination was introduced into the new order, which was further distinguished from existing orders by the omission of any obligation to keep canonical hours in the choir. The constitutions of the Society, first published in 1558, 2 years after the death of Loyola, and said by cardinal Richelieu to be a model of administrative policy, are divided into 10 parts, which are subdivided into chapters.

The following from the Penny Cyclopedia is a synopsis of these constitutions. "Part i. treats of admission to probation, and specifies the re