URSULINES, members of one of those religious orders which resulted from the rise of the Roman Church of the evan gelical zeal which was so remarkable a reflex effect of the Reformation. An gela or Angelica Merici (1470-1540), a poor maiden of Desenzano, was their founder. She began in that town, and continued afterward in Brescia, the education of poor children. At the grave of Varallo at Milan, a favorite resort of pilgrims, she was inspired with the de termination to found a new religious or der, and at the celebration of the mass in St. Afra Church at Brescia, on Nov. 25, 1535, the order, as a free union with out binding vows, was solemnly inaugu rated, and named in honor of St. Ursula. Its object was the performance of cer tain church and household devotions, the instruction of young females, and the bodily and spiritual care of the poor and sick. The order was to be immediately under the supervision of a priest and matron, and Angelica was herself chosen as first matron on March 18, 1537, by the 76 members of the society, and as such she watched over the affairs of the order till her death, three years later, when she was succeeded by the Countess Lucrezia of Ladrone. On June 9, 1544,
the order received papal sanction from Paul III., and in 1584 it had increased to 600 nuns in 18 establishments. It quickly spread itself from Italy into other lands, and at the beginning of the 18th century had 20 congregations, 350 convents, and from 15,000 to 20,000 nuns. It was not quite the same in all countries, and was never bound together so strictly as other religious orders were. No general assembly or provincial chap ters were held, so that each settlement of the Ursulines stood under the power of the bishop of the diocese. One of its latest developments was the congregation of Chavagnes, in La Vendee, founded by Demoiselle Brechard in 1805, and con taining, in 1862, 300 to 400 sisters in about 30 houses.