Numerous other communities of women have been established on the same plan, and on nearly the same rule. The most important among them is the congre- gation of St. Carolus Borromnns, so called because they chose Borromeo as their patron. Their mother-house is at Nancy, France ; and in 1845 they counted 70 houses, with about 700 members. Another was founded in 1808 in Westphalia, by baron Droste su Vischering, who be- came afterwards archbishop of Cologne. It counted, in 1858, 41 establishments, with about 200 sisters. The United States have also a number of similar in- stitutions, as Sisters of Charity of Montreal, Sisters of Charity of Naxareth, Sisters of our Lady of Mercy, Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Vir- gin, Sistsrs of Charity of St. Augustine, most of which have been founded daring the present century.
No monastic institution has spread since the begin- ning of the present century with equal rapidity, and the increase is still going on in nearly every port of the world. In 1862, the number of establishments, as fiir as known, was 1064 ; namely, 947 in Europe, 80 in America, 17 in Asia, 17 in Africa, and 8 in Australia and Oceanica (P. Karl vom hell. Aloys, 8taH», Jahr- buck der Kirehe, Ratisbon, 1862). Tlie number of mem- bers of the French order was estimated at 18,000, and that of all the Sisters of Charity at 28,000.
** Conscious that celibacy alone excites little admi- ration in modem times, Rome has lought, by her * Sisters of Charity' and by her educational orders, to give her female aristocracy better claims on the gratitude of manlund. In England and America the female orders have attracted many to the Church of Rome, and softened many antipathies. The associa- tion of unmarried females for such purposes will ever have an attraction for romantic minds ; yet the well- worked Protestant congregations in our cities send out more such sisters of cliarity and educators of the young than any of the sisterhoods of Rome. Without any bond but the law of love, and * without observa- tion,' because without the dress and separation of Rome's * Sisters of Charity,' thousands now do the part of PrisciUa or Dorcas, yet take part in all home duties and enjoyments, unconscious that they are bet- ter than others, or that they have attained a higher perfection than their fiUhers and mothers" (Lewis, Bi- ble, Missal, and Breviary, i, 124). See also Fehr, Oe- sckiekte der Jfdncksorden, ii, 828 sq. ; Eremites, Der Or- den der barmhergigen Schweatem (Schaffhausen, 1844) ; Methodid Quarterfy Beview, Jan. 1849, art v.
CHARLEMAGNE
220
CHARLES V
Charlemagne (Charlks I, or the (rreoO* Emperor of the West, was bom at Salzburg, in Bavaria, about 742, and, jointly with his brother Karloman, succeeded his father, Pepin-le-Bref, in 768. Karloman died in 771, and Charles became sole sovereign. By his wars against the Saxons, the Lombards, and the Saracens of Spain, he increased his empire until he was master of the best part of Europe. Pepin had granted the exarciuite of Ravenna to the pope and his successors forever. After Pepin's death, Diedrich, the Lombard king, attacked the pope (Adrian I), who applied to Charlemagne for aid. He crossed the Alps (A.D. 774) with a formidable army, and terminated the contest between the bishops of Rome and the kings of Lorn- hardy forever. The exarchate of Ravenna was over- thrown, its vanquished prince was sent into France, and Charlemagne proclaimed himself king of the Lom- Itards. The conqueror visited Rome, where it is said he not only confirmed the grants which Pepin had made to its bishops, but added to them new donations. By these acts he opened a way to the attainment of nn object which Pepin had contemplated, but was un- able to accomplish — ^he was enabled to gain the author- ity as well as to assume the title of Emperor of the AVcst. In A.D. 800 he visited Rome, where Pope Leo III crowned him Emperor of the West, with the title of Carolus I, Cnsar Augustus. "Although this added
Denier of Charlemagn& Obverse : Figure of the Emperor, with the (Lat) inscripilon, ^^ Pope Leo to King Charles/* Reverse : ^' St Peter,** and ^* Rome** in Monogram.
nothing directly to his power, yet it greatly confirmed and increased the respect entertained for him, such was still the lustre of a title with which were associat- ed recollections of all the greatness of the Roman em- pire. Nicephorus I, emperor of Constantinople, also acknowledged him, and between them they fixed the limits of the Eastern and Western empires. A pro- found statesman and legislator, as well as a successful conqueror, he then devoted the remainder of his life to the internal improvement of his vast empire, and to the fortification of its frontiers against the invasions of the Normans and Danes. In 818 he named his third son, Louis (Louis le D6bonnaire), his colleague in the empire, and died at Aix-la-ChapisUe January 28, 814. *' His last days, after the coronation of hu son Louis, were occupied in correcting the text of the four Evan- gelists, in which he was assisted by Greeks and Syr- ians. Charlemagne had long shown a great zeal for religion ; he never failed, while his health permitted, to attend divine service daily, morning and evening. He took great care that the service should be conduct- ed with decorum and propriety, supplied his chapels with abundance of vestments and ornaments, and, be- ing perfectly instructed in the best manner of read- ing and singing, he corrected the mode of performing both ; but he himself never read publicly in church, but contented himself with singing in a low tone and with others. His alms were not only liberally bestow- ed in his own dominions, but on all the poor and dis- tressed Christians in Syria, Egypt, Afri^ Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage; and he cultivated the friend- ship of unbelieving princes with a view to assuage the sufferings of the Christians under their dominion" (Palmer, Church History^ ch. xv).