In 1789, it counted 126 houses; in 1888, there were 1,286 .-- Meanwhile, alongside of the old plantations, a large number of independent germs, new species and varieties, spring up spontaneously, each with its own aim, rules and special denomination.
On Good Friday, April 6, 1792, at the very date of the decree of the Legislative Assembly abolishing all religious communities,[5311] one is born, that of the "Soeurs de la Retraite Chretienne," at Fontenelle, and, from year to year, similar plants constantly and suddenly spring out of the ground for a century.

The list is too long to be counted; a large official volume of more than four hundred pages is filled with the mere statement of their names, localities and statistics .-- This volume, published in 1878, divides religious institutions into two groups.

We find in the first one, comprising the legally authorized societies, at first 5 congregations of men possessing 224 establishments with 2,418 members, and 23 associations of men with 20,341 members and supplying 3,086 schools; next, 259 congregations of women and 644 communities which possess 3,196 establishments, supplying 16,478 schools and counting 113,750 members.

In the second group, comprising unauthorized societies, we find 384 establishments of men with 7,444 members, and 602 establishments of women with 14,003 members,--in all, in both groups, 30,287 brethren and 127,753 sisters.

Considering the total population, the proportion of brethren in 1789 and in our day is about the same; it is their spirit which has changed; at the present day, all desire to remain in their profession, while in 1789 two-thirds wanted to withdraw from it.