New York, under the administration of Governor Dongan, and early in the next century these zealous missionaries selected a site which they had acquired at Bohemia, on a branch of the Elk, for a new institution. The college and chapel bore the name of St. Xaverius, and stood within half a mile of the boundary line of the three counties on the Delaware, the site having been selected, perhaps, to facilitate removal, in case of necessity, beyond the jurisdiction of Maryland officials, the more humane policy of Penn's colony affording a safe refuge. An old chapel still stands in a fair state of preservation, but the grass of the lawn covers the site where the little college stood when Carroll attended it,' though the ancient wrought-iron cross brought over by Calvert, that marks the spot, was probably a venerable relic there even in his day.

At the academy in Bohemia young Carroll, entering about 1747, had as fellow-scholars his relative, Charles Carroll, the future signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Robert Brent. The talent, love of study, and solidity of character shown by young John's pious and amiable life, proved that opportunities for a higher and more thorough course would not be lost by him. The institutions of learning then established in the colonies and the great universities of England were in that day closed to the Catholic pupil; nor was liberty granted the oppressed adherents of the ancient faith to found and endow schools and colleges for the education of their children. The only resource for Catholics lay in the coun

166

"Of this school, which may be called the predecessor of Georgetown, no history is preserved: even the building in which it was held was pulled down fifty years ago." Woodstock Letters, vol. vii., p. 4. For the early Catholic Grammar Schools, see an article by Rev. W. P. Treacy, "U. S. Catholic Hist. Mag.," i., p. 71. There were Jesuit schools in England also to which Maryland Catholics sent their sons. "The Present State of Popery in England," London, 1733, p. 19.

ENGLISH COLLEGES ABROAD.

29

tries on the Continent where their faith was professed. At various points, Rome, Douay, Louvain, Paris, Seville, Coimbra, St. Omer, Salamanca, colleges were built and endowed to give the sons of Catholics in the British dominions an opportunity to acquire an education suited to their rank in life.' The generous aid from large-hearted people in all lands helped to create and endow these institutions; still, there were but a favored few Catholics in America who could afford to send their sons and daughters beyond the sea. Laws forbade them to obtain an education at home, laws punished them for sending their children abroad, yet many a family, like one from which the writer springs, risked all for the good of their off spring, and lost it. Probably the laws of no nation contain such a series of enactments, aimed at reducing a class of its subjects to ignorance, as do those of Great Britain and her colonies.

The effect of this continental education on the young Catholic gentlemen and gentlewomen was clearly seen. As a class they were far superior in the last century to their Protestant neighbors, who, educated at home, were narrow and insular in their ideas, ignorant of modern languages, and of all that was going on beyond their county limits and its fox hunts and races. The Catholic, on the contrary, was conversant with several languages, with the current literature of Europe, the science of the day, with art and the great galleries where the masterpieces of painting and sculpture could be seen. He returned to England or his colonial home after forming acquaintance with persons of distinction and influence, whose correspondence retained and enlarged the knowledge he had acquired.

'Petre, "Notices of the English Colleges and Convents established on the Continent," Norwich, 1849; Treacy, "Irish Scholars of the Penal Days-Glimpses of their Labors on the Continent," New York, 1887.

Young John Carroll, it was soon determined, should pursue a thorough course at the great Jesuit college in the town of St. Omer in French Flanders. A year spent in preliminary study at Bohemia prepared him and his fellow-students to enter that great institution founded by the English Jesuits about 1590, aided in no small degree by Philip II. of Spain.1 It opened with thirty-three pupils, but its average was above a hundred for a long series of years, and sometimes nearly two hundred filled its classes. The course was very thorough, and St. Omer's College enjoyed a high reputation for the proficiency of its students in Latin, and especially in Greek. One peculiarity of its system was that during dinner a student could be called upon by the rector to speak extemporaneously on any subject. It was rare that some visitors, often men of high rank, were not in the refectory, and the readiness and skill with which the scholars rose and spoke, with no time or notes to prepare a discourse, were a subject of universal astonishment.

In this great institution, John Carroll spent six years, and even among its brilliant scholars won a high reputation. His father did not long survive his departure, dying in Maryland in 1750. At the close of their course of rhetoric, the collegians

1 Woodstock Letters, vii., p. 5.

"My father" [Daniel Carroll] "died in 1750 and left six children, myself, Ann, John, Ellen, Mary, and Betsy." Letter of Hon. Daniel Carroll, brother of the Archbishop, to James Carroll in Ireland, Dec. 20, 1762. "My eldest sister Ann is married to Mr. Robert Brent in Virginia. They have one child, a son. My brother John was sent abroad for his education on my return, and is now a Jesuit at Liège, teaching philosophy and eminent in his profession. Ellen, my second sister, is married well, to Mr. Wm. Brent in Virginia, near my eldest sister. She has three boys and one girl. My sisters Mary and Betsy are unmarried, and live chiefly with my mother, who is very well." Ib.

The oldest son, Henry, was drowned "when he was a boy at school and

of St. Omer generally proceeded to the Colleges of the Society in Rome or Valladolid to pursue the higher branches of learning. Young Carroll had, however, decided on his vocation. He felt that he was called by Providence to enter the religious life, and attached to the learned and pious priests who had directed his studies, he applied for admission into the Society of Jesus.

The novitiate of the English province of the order was then in an ancient abbey at Watten,' a small town about six miles from St. Omer, which the bishop of that city had bestowed upon the Jesuit Fathers. Carroll's virtues and amiable character, as well as ability and studious disposition, caused his application to be favorably received, and in 1753, on the eve of Our Lady's nativity, the favorite day in the English province for entering on the religious life, he was admitted to the novitiate and assumed the habit which a Stanislaus, an Aloysius, an Elphinstone had associated with youthful sanctity. With him as fellow-novices, were Joseph Hathersty destined to labor and die in the Maryland mission; Wm. Horne, Peter Jenkins, George Knight, Joseph Emmott, Joseph Tyrer, all in time zealous and useful members of the Society. A fellow-countryman, Robert Cole, and the future Church historian, Joseph Reeve, were already in the novitiate when he entered. After the two years of retirement devoted to meditation, and training for spiritual life, under Father Henry Corbie, in the novitiate, then composed of some sixteen aspirants, Carroll was sent to the College of the Society at Liège, to prepare for elevation to the priesthood by a course

many years before the death of his father." Deposition of Elizabeth Carroll, 1810.

1 Watten is about two leagues from St. Omer. A convent, once occupied by Regular Canons, was conveyed to the English Jesuits for a novitiate in 1611-2, and finally opened in 1622. Foley, "Records," v., p. 194.

of philosophy and theology, with the kindred sacred studies under Father Charles Rousse or Roels. It is not unusual for the young members of the order to be employed for some years in teaching in the colleges, but Carroll was not thus called away from his preparation for the altar. The scholas. ticate then numbered about twenty-five pious and talented youth. He was ordained priest in 1759, attesting his mastery of theology by a public defense of his theses.

The young priest was then appointed to a professor's chair at St. Omer, and his ability as a teacher and guide of youth maintained the ancient reputation of that seat of learning. He was next employed at Liège, as professor of philosophy and of theology in the scholasticate, forming young members of the order to be invested with the awful dignity of the priesthood. Whether training young gentlemen for their career in the world, or the scholastics of the order for their future mission duties, the dignified American Jesuit evinced equal judgment and skill.

After a certain number of years in the order, the member of the Society of Jesus takes his final vows. Preparatory to this Father Carroll had renounced in favor of his brother Daniel and his sisters Ann, Ellen, Mary, and Betsy, his claims to the property of his father. The last vows are preceded by a second novitiate of one year, and by an examination in theology. Only those who combine great learning, the highest virtue and ability as directors of souls, are admitted to the class of professed Fathers; most of the members of the Society take the vows of Spiritual Coadjutors formed. In the case of Father John Carroll there was no

1 Daniel to James Carroll, Dec. 20, 1762.

"His theological manu

scripts, which he prepared for his own use, either as student or professor, are still preserved in Georgetown College library." Woodstock Letters, vii., p. 6.