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A protectory was a Catholic institution for the shelter and training of the young, designed to afford neglected or abandoned children shelter, food, raiment and the rudiments of an education in religion, morals, science and manual training or industrial pursuits. Institutions of this nature were once found in most of the dioceses of the United States. They were usually opened to receive orphans, truants, juvenile delinquents, and destitute children. The largest, by far, was the Catholic Protectory in New York.