THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
France under Napoleon in 1804. By 1822 the houses of the Christian Brothers numbered 180 in France, and since that time the congregation lias spread over the greater part of the Roman Catholic world (especially Belgium, Spain, Italy, and Austria), and is represented in Turkey, India, Egypt, Australia, and America. With about 1,300 houses, over 2,000 schools, and 14,000 members, the Christian Brothers are now the strongest Roman Catholic male order.
Although without official connection with the Jesuits, the Christian Brothers, who are also called Ignorantins because of their law which forbids them to admit to their number priests with a theological education, have many points in common with the older order. When the Jesuits were expelled from France in 1764, the Christian Brothers aided materially in maintaining sympathy for the exiles among the people and preparing the way for their return. Much of their organization and discipline also recalls the Jesuit system, especially the assistants charged with the supervision of the acts of the superior-general, the frequent visitations, the rules for confession and prayer, and the training of their members, which consists of a novitiate and a course of practical teaching of one year each. (O. ZocklerI.)
Bibliography: Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, ii. 280-285; Die christliche Schulbrvder, 2 vols., Augsburg, 1844; J. A. Krebs, Leben des . J. B. de la Salle, nebat Anhang iiber Geschichte . seines Ordens, Regensburg, 1858; F. J. Knecht, J. B. de la Salle und das Inatitut der christlicfien Schulbriider, Freiburg, 1879; Mrs. M. Wilson, The Christian Brothers, their Origin and Work, London, 1883; J. B. Blain, La Vie du . J.-B. de la Salle, Versailles, 1887; P. Helyot, Ordres monastiques, viii. 233 sqq.; Currier, Religious Orders, pp. 455-457.
CHRISTIAN CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH IN ZION : A religious society, the formal organization of which was effected by John Alexander Dowie (q. v. ) in Chicago, 1896. The growth of the movement dates back to the foxuider's discovery of his alleged power to obtain cure of disease through prayer, on account of which he retired from the Congregational ministry in Melbourne and established a church and tabernacle for " divine healing." His emigration to the United States in 1888 was followed by the establishment of " missions of healing " on the Pacific Coast. After his settlement at Evanston, 111., in 1890 he conducted work on the same lines there and in Chicago, with missions in Canada, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The success of his efforts in Chicago decided him in 1893 to make that his center of operations, and a tabernacle and " divine healing rooms " were erected. His following was so large that organization was determined upon. In 1900 a large tract of land was bought on Lake Michigan, 42 m. n. of Chicago, and " Zion City " was planned, where were to be erected schools, a college to train the ministry and propagandists, various business establishments and factories (for which large sums have been sohcited and received from believers), and residences for the adherents of the Church. The branches already established in the West and elsewhere were brought into connection with the central organization, in which a theocratic element was claimed.
In the organization of the Church Dowie was " general overseer," and claimed to be Elijah III., John the Baptist being Elijah II. Other officers are overseers, elders, evangelists, deaconesses, and conductors of gatherings. The propaganda is carried on by bands of " Zion Seventies " who in twos act as tract-distributors. Missionaries are sent in all directions, and branches are established in different countries in Europe, eastern Asia, and South America. The basis of church-membership is belief in the Scriptures as the rule of faith and practise, in the necessity of repentance for sin and of trust in Christ for salvation, and belief in the witness of the Spirit.
In 1905 Mr. Dowie was compulsorily retired, and Wilbur Glenn Voliva elected in his place, though the former objected that the election violated the theocratic constitution. No statistics are obtainable as to membership or ministry. The receiver appointed for the affairs of Zion City reported in Sept., 1906, total assets of $2,528,581 and liabilities of $6,125,018. W. H. Larrabee.
Bibliogbapht: R. Harlan, John Alexander Dowie and the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion, Evansville, Wis., 1906; J. A. Dowie and his Zions, in Independent, liii (1901), 1786; Dowie Movement in Chicago, in Outlook, Ixviii (1901), 429; J. M. Buckley, John Alexander Dowie, Analyzed and Classified, in Century Magazine, xlii (1902), 928-982; J. Swain, The Prophet and his Profits, ib., pp. 122 sqq.; J. J. Halsey, Genesis of a Modern Prophet, in American Journal of Sociology, ix (1903), 310; J. K. Friedman, in Everybody's Magazine, ix (1903), 567; J. H. Shepstone, Dowie and his City of Zion, in the London Sunday Magazine, xxxiii (1904), 553.
The Church periodical is Leaves of Healing, a weekly published at Zion City.
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION, THE UNITED STATES: An organization to care for the religious needs of the soldiers in the field during the Civil War, first proposed by Vincent Colyer, of New York, in 1861. The idea was taken up by the Young Men's Christian Association, and at a convention held in New York in Nov., 1861, a commission of twelve was organized to take charge of the work. Bibles, hymnals, tracts, religious books, and newspapers were distributed through the armies, and personal religious work was done. Two special works were undertaken: The Commission aimed to be a medium of speedy and reliable communication between the soldiers and sailors and their friends at home, and it circulated loan-libraries of general literature. The total value of money contributed and other gifts was officially estimated at $6,291,107.68. The final meeting of the Commission was held in Washington Feb. 11, 1866. The leading men in the movement were the president, George H. Stuart, of Philadelphia, and Nathan Bishop (q.v.), of New York.
Bibliography: Lemuel Moss, Annals of the United States Christian Commission, Philadelphia, 1868.
CHRISTIAN CONNECTION. See Christians.