RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Wolsey Women
turning to Germany he took a position as unordained assistant at Krefeld, then held a teachership for a brief time at a girls’ school at Cologne, after which he became pastor at Wesel (1851); in 1857 he went to Bonn to do the work of a pastor, and showed a comprehensive activity in preaching, organization, leadership and the cure of souls, adding to his other duties the religious instruction of the upper classes in the gymnasium; after 1862 he was a standing representative at the provincial synod, and in 1869 he became superintendent of the district of Miilheim. In 1874 he assumed a new line of duty as professor of practical theology at Halle, lecturing also on various New-Testament epistles, on church order, and on the history of Christian art; here he served also as head of the governing body of the deaconess institution, while other activities, such as the Gustav- Adolf-Verein, drew upon his strength. Besides three volumes of sermons (Krefeld, 1851, Bonn, 1860-74), he issued Ernst Moritz Arndt, ein Zeuge fiir den evangelischen Glauben (Elberfeld, 1860); Ueber die Prinzipien der rheinisch-westphdlischen Kirchenordnung (Bonn, 1862); Der Heidelberger Katechismus .. . nebst der Geschichte seines Textes (1864); Konrad von Heresbach und der clev. Hof zu seiner Zeit (Elberfeld, 1867); Reformationsgeschichte der Stadt Wesel (Bonn, 1868); Hin Blatt aus der Geschichte des truchsess’schen Krieges (1872); Der Abgott zu Halle (1877); and the posthumous Nachgelassene Gedichte (1879). (K. H. Pauncke.) BisitiocrapHy : W. Beyschlag, Erinnerungen an Albrecht Wolters, Halle, 1880; and the address at the interment, by Pastor Krabb, in Kirchlicher Anzeiger fiir die evangelischen Gemeinden in Bonn und Umgegend, 1878, no. 15. WOLTERSDORF, véilt’ers-dorf, ERNST GOTT- LIEB: German poet, educator, preacher, and author; b. at Friedrichsfelde, a suburb of Berlin, May 31, 1725; d. at Bunzlau (65 m. w.n.w. of Breslau) Dec. 17, 1761. He received his preparatory training at Berlin, entered the University of Halle in 1742; was compelled by illness to break off his studies and to travel in 1744; became tutor and vicar in the family of Pastor Stilke in Zerrenthin near Prenzlau; in 1746 was called to Drehna to preach and to instruct young Count Seyfried, when he gave of his time for the instruction of the school-children; he was called as second pastor to Bunzlau in 1748, and there he was active in a revival during which the numbers attending his services compelled him to preach in the open air, while his excellent service and his devotion to his work won over the faction which had opposed his selection; in 1754 he became interested in an orphan asylum, entered the directorate, with which he became even more closely identified in 1758, declining a call to a professorship that he might continue his work. Under his able direction during the short time remaining to him the importance and usefulness of the institution increased greatly. Of his poems he issued volumes in 1750-51 under the title Hvangelische Psalmen (new ed. by R. Schneider, Dresden, 1849), and a complete collection appeared after his death (Berlin, 1767). They have become precious possessions of the church, though they are for the most part too long for use in hymnals. A collection of -his sermons appeared at Bunzlau, 1771. (A. FRreyspj.)
BisuiocrapHy: There is a biography by R. Schneider in his edition of the Evangelische Psalmen noted in the text; one by R. Besser, Bielefeld, 1854; also one by A. Briissau- Vielguth, in Bilder aus der Geschichte des evangelischen Kirchenliedes, no. 36.
WOLZOGEN, JOHANN LUDWIG VON.
Socrnus, Faustus, Socrnrans, I., § 2.
WOMEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC CONGREGA- TIONS OF: Communities of women,usually monastic in character, organized for religious or philanthropic purposes. The female branches of such orders as the Benedictines, Franciscans, and Dominicans, as well as such famous orders and congregations as the Brigittines, Sisters of Mercy, and Ursulines, are dealt with under the articles devoted to those subjects. But a list may here be given of the smaller and more or less local female congregations of the Roman Catholic Church, the order adopted being chronological.
The Oblates of the Tower of Specchi (Oblate di Tor de’ Specchi) were established in 1425 during
the pontificate of Martin V. by Fran- Foundations cesca Romana of Trastevere for the before 1600. care of the sick. The members of this
order have been distinguished by their self-sacrificing devotion, down to the present century. The Conceptionists, or Order of the Conception of Mary, were founded at Toledo in 1484 by Beatrix de Silva, and were confirmed by Innocent VIII., 1589. A similar society, that of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, was established in connection with Pierre Fourier’s Lorraine congregation of Our Lady at Nancy. The Dimesses were founded in 1584 by Dianira Valmarana, a widow of Verona, for the instruction of girls and the care of the sick under the sanction of Cardinal-bishop Augustin Valier. The Daughters of the Purification of Mary were established in 1590 at Arona near Milan, principally for the instruction of women.
The Daughters of Our Lady of Bordeaux (Filles de Notre Dame de Bordeaux) were founded in 1607
by Jeanne Lestonac, marquise of Mont-
Founda- ferrat, and were confirmed by Paul V. tions of the The congregation is devoted chiefly to Seventeenth the instruction of Roman Catholic
Century. girls, and possessed in 1898 more than
thirty houses in France and some twenty in Spain, Italy, and America. The Sisters of Christian Teaching of Nancy (Vatelottes) were established in 1615 by the Lorraine priest Vatel for the care of the sick and the instruction of girls, and have about 900 sisters and 200 houses. The Daughters of Mount Calvary (Brignolines, Suore Brignole) were established at Genoa in 1619 by Virginia Centurione for the care of the sick and young children. The Nuns of the Incarnate Word (Religieuses du Verbe incarne) were founded at Lyons in 1625 by Jeanne Marie Chezard for the adoration of the sacrament. They are divided into three classes, the first of which maintains the original purpose of the congregation; the second supports boarding-schools for girls; and the third nurses the sick. The Daughters of the Holy Cross, founded at Roye in Picardy in 1625, has been divided since 1668 into a congregation of religious with simple
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Women Women’s Work in the Church