774 



BOON, ALBREOHT T. E. VON. 



Catholic clergy who married persons unless al- 

 ready married, drew forth a letter from the 

 Pope and remonstrances from the bishops in 

 all parts of the peninsula. During the year a 

 Catholic Congress at Modena, encouraged by 

 the Pope, showed a resolution to abandon the 

 policy of abstention from the polls. 



In Belgium, as in France, the Catholics were 

 aroused by propositions to fetter their free- 

 dom in the education of their children, and the 

 position of the Church was embodied in the 

 pastoral letter of Cardinal Deschamps and his 

 suffragans (September 1st), containing practi- 

 cal instructions for the use of confessors. At- 

 tempts were made to show that the bishops 

 were not acting in harmony with the Holy See, 

 but the Pope and the episcopate disavowed at 

 once any difference of opinion. 



The confraternities question in Brazil arose 

 in a new form, and the claim of these associa- 

 tions (originally organizations of pious devotees, 

 but recently made up of men having no sympa- 

 thy with the doctrines or worship of the Catho- 

 lic Church) to control the churches and the per- 

 formance of divine worship was a peculiar state 

 of affairs. Bishop Macedo protested against 

 the seizure of a church at Nazareth, and re- 

 ligious services conducted there without the 

 presence of the clergy. 



In the United States, the dedication of the 

 Cathedral of New York on May 25th, by Car- 

 dinal McCloskey and a vast array of archbish- 

 ops and bishops, was an event which interest- 

 ed all, the cathedral being the finest and largest 

 ecclesiastical edifice yet erected in the repub- 

 lic. 



Among Catholics of note who died during 

 the year 1879 were Augustine Bonetty, founder 

 and editor for many years of the " Annales de 

 la Philosophie Chretienne," May 26th ; Moth- 

 er Mary Thomas Peacock, an American lady, 

 foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Child Je- 

 sus, who died in the mother-house of her or- 

 der in England, April 18th; Sister Marie de la 

 Croix (Jeanne Jurgan), one of the foundresses 

 of the Little Sisters of the Poor, August 20th ; 

 and Mgr. Gaume, author of the " Catechism of 

 Perseverance " and other works, and an active 

 advocate of the abandonment of the classics 

 and the adoption of the writings of the Fa- 

 thers. 



EOON, ALBREOHT THEODOR EMIL, Count 

 von, a German field-marshal, born April 30, 

 1803, died February 23, 1879. In 1813 he joined 

 the corps of cadets at Culm, and two years 

 later that at Berlin. He entered the 14th in- 

 fantry as an officer in 1821, and studied at the 

 Military Academy from 1824 to 1827, where 

 he devoted himself particularly to military and 

 geographical studies. In 1827 he became in- 

 structor in the Cadet School, in which position 

 he published " Anfangsgrilnde der Erdkunde " 

 (1834; 12th edit., 1868), and " Grundzuge der 

 Erd-, Volker- und Staatenkunde " (3 vols., 1837 

 -'40 ; 3d edit., 1847-'55), both of which soon 

 attained a very large sale. He was employed 



from 1833 to 1835 in the Topographical Bu- 

 reau, was appointed in 1835 a teacher in the 

 War School, and in 1836 was ordered to the 

 general staff with the rank of captain, and at 

 the same time was made a member of the chief 

 military examination committee. At that time 

 he wrote " Militarische Landerbeschreibung 

 von Europa" (1837), and the first part of a 

 military monograph entitled " Die Iberische 

 Halbinsel" (1839). In 1842 he was attached 

 to the staff of the 7th army corps with the rank 

 of major. In 1843 he was ordered back to 

 Berlin and intrusted with the military instruc- 

 tion of Prince Frederick Charles, whom he 

 accompanied to the University of Bonn and on 

 his travels in Italy and France. In 1848 he 

 was appointed chief of the general staff of the 

 8th army corps, in which capacity he took part 

 in the campaign in Baden in 1849. In 1856 he 

 was appointed to the command of the 20th in- 

 fantry brigade, and in 1858 of the 14th division. 

 In the latter year he handed a memorial to the 

 Prince Regent (the present Emperor) on tho 

 defects of the army, which was received favor- 

 ably; and in 1859 he was appointed a member 

 of the commission on the reorganization of the 

 army, after having been previously raised to 

 the rank of lieutenant general. In December 

 of the same year he was appointed Minister of 

 War, and two years later Minister of Marine. 

 The King had boundless faith in his military 

 measures. His leading idea was to base the 

 army on universal service for three years, in 

 order to be ready for all contingencies, the 

 Landwehr to be called out for the defense of the 

 country whenever the line should take the field. 

 On February 10, 1860, the new Minister of War 

 laid his plans before both Houses of the Diet, 

 declaring that there was no intention of break- 

 ing with the past, but the Prussian army must 

 thenceforth be the people in arms. During the 

 next few years stormy sittings were of frequent 

 occurrence in the Chambers. As the origina- 

 tor of the new military law, General von Roon 

 was the best-hated man in Prussia; but he 

 clung with great tenacity to his plans, and a 

 powerful ally soon joined him in Otto von Bis- 

 marck. The brilliant successes of the Prussian 

 arms in the wars with Denmark and Austria, 

 and particularly the rapidity with which the 

 latter campaign was brought to a close, occa- 

 sioned a complete revulsion of feeling in favor 

 of Von Koon and Bismarck. His system was 

 again put to the test in 1870, and the rapidity 

 and perfect order with which the German troops 

 entered France and overthrew the French Em- 

 pire gained for Von Roon again the admiration 

 of the people. On January 19, 1871, he cele- 

 brated at Versailles the fiftieth anniversary of 

 his military life, when the Emperor expressed 

 his gratitude for the great services he had ren- 

 dered him and his house. On June 16th ho 

 was created a Count, and was otherwise richly 

 rewarded. In December, 1871, he resigned the 

 Ministry of Marine ; but on January 1, 1873, 

 he was appointed President of the Prussian 



