Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/323

ALEMBERT to Ogden, Utah, in November, 1883, to meet for the first time, to accompany thence and to welcome to San Francisco his coadjutor and successor, the Most Rev. P. W. Riordan. From the first meeting and until his death the closest and tenderest friendship existed between them. Having acquainted his successor fully with diocesan affairs and transferred to him as a "corporation sole" all diocesan property (according to a law which he had had passed through the California legislature for the better security of church property), the Archbishop resigned in 1884, returned to his native land, and died there. His intense love for the missionary life and his zeal for souls did not end with his resignation, his seventy years unfitted him for active work of that nature, but he returned to Spain with a dream of founding a missionary college to supply priests for the American missions. For this purpose he left behind him in San Francisco the amount of a testimonial given him by the priests and people of the diocese as some little recognition of his long services and the example of his saintly life among them. He stipulated that, should he not use it for that purpose, it should be expended by his successor for religious and charitable purposes in San Francisco. He received generous support from the diocese, but found the proposed missionary college impracticable. So, on his retirement from thirty years of apostolic labours in California, he left as a legacy to the diocese the example of a true apostle, and died as an apostle should, possessing nothing but the merits of his "works which had gone before him".

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Alembert,. See.

Alenio, Chinese missionary and scholar, b. at Brescia, in Italy, in 1582; d. at Fou-Teheou, China, in August, 1644. He became a member of the Society of Jesus in 1600, and was distinguished for his knowledge of mathematics and theology. He was sent as a missionary to China in 1610 and while waiting at Macao for a favorable opportunity to enter the country he published his "résultat de l'observation sue l'éclipse de lune du 8 Novembre, 1612, faite à Macao" (Mémoires de l'Acad. des Sciences, VII, 706.) After his arrival in China, he preached the Gospel in the provinces of Xan-si and Fi-Kien. He published many works in Chinese on a variety of topics. Among the most important are a controversial treatise on the Catholic Faith, in which are refuted the principal errors of the Chinese; "The True Origin of All Things"; and "The Life of God, the Saviour, from the Four Gospels". There is a complete list of Alenio's works in Sommervogel.

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Aleppo, (Armenian Rite), in Syria. The city of Aleppo is situated in the plain that stretches from the Orontes to the Euphrates in the northwestern extremity of the Syrian desert. It rises in the middle of an oasis on the eight little hills, and is watered by the Kouik. Ancient Egyptian records mention this town. According to an Arab tradition, Abraham lived in it, and distributed some milk to every comer, whence the town's name, Haleb. Seleucus Nicator (311–280 ) gave it the name of Beroea (Berrhoe) by which it was known in early Christian times. Its present Semitic name dates from the Arab conquest in 630. It belonged to the Seljukids from 1090 to 1117; to the Ortokids from 1117 to 1183 (besieged by the Crusaders 1124); to the Ayoubites from 1183 to 1260 (Mongol Invasion); and to the Egyptian Sultans. In 1317 it passed definitively to the Ottoman Turks, except for the Egyptian occupation, 1833–39. To-day it is the chief residence of a vilayet of the same name. In ancient times Aleppo was a commercial depot for the trade between India, the regions along the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Mediterranean. Although it has long lost much of its importance, it still sends to Alexandria the products of Diarbekir, Mossoul, and Baghdad. It is noted for its fertile gardens and its healthy climate. A more disagreeable peculiarity is the ulcer known as the "Aleppo button". The plague raged there in 1822. Its ramparts and forts have fallen into decay. Among the architectural monuments are a Roman aqueduct and a beautiful mosque of the Seljukid epoch. The population is about 127,000 of whom 97,450 are Mussulmans (Arabs, Turks, etc.), 19,200 Catholics (Greeks, United or Melchites, Syrians, Armenians, Maronites, Chaldeans, and Latins), 2,800 non-Catholic Christians (mostly Gregorian Armenians), and 7,800 Jews. Four Catholic archbishops govern the Melchites, the Syrians, the Armenians, and the Maronites. The Gregorian Armenians are administered by a Vartabet appointed by the Catholicos of Sis. The Orthodox Greeks are very rare in the town, but quite numerous in the surrounding country. They constitute a metropolitan diocese, which separated from the Patriarchate of Antioch in 1757, and was restored to it by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in August, 1888. In the eighteenth century the Orthodox metropolitan, Gerassimus (d. 1783, at Athos) was a stern enemy of the union with Rome. Aleppo remains the centre of the French Catholic missions of Syria. In 1625 the Carmelites established themselves there; somewhat later they retired to Mount Carmel, where they built a monastery. (They had also in the orient other stations.) In Aleppo they were succeeded by the Lazarists from 1785 to 1869. In 1873 the Jesuits founded a mission at Aleppo. In 1626 the Capuchins organized a "Custodia" from which were directed twelve missions. Their activity was interrupted by the French Revolution and in 1808 these Capuchin missions were given to the Italian Franciscans. The latter founded a college in 1859. The Sisters of St. Joseph direct a boarding-school. There are also Protestant missionaries in Aleppo. It has 260 schools: 115 Mussulman, 116 Christian, and 29 Israelite. 2em

Ales and Terralba, made up of 42 communes in the province of Cagliari, Archbishopric of Oristano, Italy. The two sees were united by Julius II in 1503. Christianity was possibly introduced into Sardinia by groups of the faithful, who were condemned to work in its mines [Philos., IX, 12; Catal. Liber., s.v. "Pontianus"; cf. Harnack, Die Mission, etc. (Leipzig, 1902), 502]. Gregory the Great alludes to the episcopal see of Ales (anciently Uselli), in his letter to Januarius of Cagliari in 591 (Jaffé, 1130). After this nothing is to be found about it until 1147, when the name of Bishop Rello appears in a diploma. The local traditions of Terralba have preserved the memory of a Bishop Mariano, who erected the cathedral about 1144. The diocese contains 42 parishes, 102 priests, 59,530 inhabitants.

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Alessandria della Paglia, in Piedmont, Italy, a suffragan of Vercelli. It was made a see in 1175 by Alexander III. by a Brief of 30 Jan. 1176, in which he declares that he selects a bishop