Book Description

Excerpt from Society of St. Vincent De Paul: Report of the Superior Council of New York, to the Council-General in Paris, for the Year 1878 The President of the Council sends an interesting statement of the works of the society during the year. We are obliged to limit our selves to a brief summary of portions of its contents. There were a great many families, he says, who were not the first to proclaim their wants, but who, by reason of depression in business affairs, were the first on the list of the beneficiaries of the Conferences. This was owing to the fact that the members were active in seeking those whose miseries wereunproclaimed. From laboring men had hitherto come a large portion of the funds which the Conferences had distributed, The contributions from that class had been greatly lessened, and many were in the position of needing assistance, rather than of being in'a position to assist others. It had been necessary therefore to have recourse to extraordinary means in order to supply funds, but these means, probably for the reasons already stated, had not been attended with the success of former years. The extent and universal fatality of the yellow fever at the South had induced the Conferences to contribute from their funds, and to solicit large contributions from others. The results had been that, on the one hand, there had been increased demands, and, on the other, diminished resources. But, the best that could be done was done, and this was all that could be asked. The aggregate of the contributions by members at meetings. Was such as to show that the average from each member was not large. But some of those, who were not able to contribute mone for the aid of the poor, had not failed in doing the good of which. They were capable. In this connection the President points out how\ much had been done by the poor' members of the Conferences in re calling parents to their religious dut1es, miserably neglected, and in: instructing children in the practice of their duties and in leading a. Good life. The good works of the Society had not been confined tdl those of our own creed, and sometimes the result of this had been that faith had been given to those who had not believed. The regu lar meetings had been fairly attended, and addresses had been delivered by some of the most gifted priests. They had commendedi to'approval and practice the great interests of Christian charity, theys had illustrated the doctrine of charity in relation to the duties of the; members. The ear had not been tickled by unmeaning verbiage, nor' disturbed by the presentation of impracticableprecepts. A retreat was held last October and was conducted by Rev. B. Villiger, S. J. In a most satisfactory manner, and large numbers of the members took advantage of the season and professed to have greatly enjoyed the exercises. Such retreats were regarded as regular annual occur rences. Some members of the Conferences continued 'to visit the City Prisons and the State Pemtentiary, and the visits were very, gratifying to the convicts, and, it is believed, greatly beneficial to them. Proper books were distributed among the prisoners, and many copies of Catholic papers were regularly left in the cells. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.