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 NUEVA PAMPLONA

149

NUEVA SEGOVIA

first bishop was Francisco de Ortega, an Augustinian friar who had laboured for several years in the Prov- ince of Manila. He took possession of his diocese in 1600. The present bishop (Rt. Rev. John B. McGin- ley, con. 1910) is liis twenty-seventh successor.

From the beginning until" 1890, the greater number of parislies and missions were cared for by the Fran- ciscans and the Augustinians. Although the latter had resigned during the first years in favour of the Franciscans, they returned to the diocese some years later and convcrtetl to the faith the whole of Camar- ines Norte. Each parish had as its parish priest a friar, assisted, according to the importance and popula- tion of the district, by one or more native secular priests. Only in later years were the latter placed in full charge of imjiurtant parishes. As late as 1897, out of a total of 90 parishes, 43 were in charge of friars. The bishops were also generally chosen from the various re- ligious orders, though on several occasions members of the secular clergy held the see, the most noted being (172o) the saintly Bishop de Molina, a native of Iloilo, whose name is still held in veneration. The Lazarists came in 1870, under Bishop Gainza, and were placed in charge of the diocesan seminary then in process of const ruction. The same prelate introduced the Sisters of Charity and placed them in charge of the academy and normal school which he had founded. In 1886 the Capuchins arrived and were given several missions. In 1898, on account of the revolution against Spanish ride and the feeling against the friars, most of these religious were withdrawn from their parishes antl missions, and secular clergy placed in charge. The present (1908) statistics of the diocese are as follows: 168 priests, of whom 25 are regulars; the religious who are not priests number 12 (sisters 9, brothers 3); 122 parishes with resident priests: without resident priests, 6; parochial schools 1st), with 4ti,0t)0 children in attendance (24,000 boys ami 22, (UK) t;irls); one hospital; one academy for girls, wit li 201) in atti-ud- ance; a diocesan seminary, preparatory and tlicologi- cal, with 60 students; a college for secidar students attached to the seminary, with 500 students. The total population of the diocese is nearly 600,000, of which nmnber less than lUOO are non-Catholic.

Kl I ,,;,,:,,,;,,,,,,/■,'.,,,„,,, w ,,l,,M,.i,, 11, I'iDii;. < ' r.'.nicax dela Ap.,:!^ ,;■ '. - /'. - - ' M niiln, 1738);

DE Zi t. .. n ■ / /■'''■, iiii|i"loc, 1803);

DE Cu.Mi;., A«/.;,.',j ..' ,-.■ y ,,,../ Madim, 1^-11;; BlumeN- TSITT. Dicaunano -I/.'../,.-/'.-. ./. /■', Spinas (Manilii, 1895); DE Vioo, Historiu de Filtpinas (M;,nila, 1876); Guia Oficial de FtHpinas (Manila, IS'JT); i>i: 1I[-kht,\, Estado de la Provincia de San Gregorio en las lalas Filipinas (Binondo, 1865).

Jos. J. Daly.

Nueva Pamplona, Diocese of (Neo-Pampilonen- Sis),in Colombia, South America, founded in 1549 and a see erected by Gregory XVI on 25 September, 1835. The city contains 15,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the province of the same name in the Department Norte de Satander; the diocese is sufTragan of Bogotd, with a population of 325,000, all Catholics except about one hundred dissenters, mostly foreigners. The first bishop, Jos^ Jorge Torres Estans, a native of Cartagena, ruled from 30 August, 1837, to 17_ April, 1853, when he died at the age of 81, an exile in San Antonio del Fdchira, Venezuela. His successor, Jos6 Luis Niiio, named vicar Apostolic, was consecrated in October, 1856, and also died an exile in San Antonio del Fd,chira, 12 February, 1864. The third bishop, Bonifacio Antonio Toscano, governed from 13 Octo- ber, 1865, to his retirement in 1873. He convoked the first diocesan synod, and assisted at the Provincial Council of New Granada in 1868 and at the Vatican Council. Indalecio Barreto succeeded him 3 Decem- ber, 1874, and died 19 March, 1875, at La Vega near Cucuta. The Bishop of Panamii, Ignacio Antonio Parra, his successor, ruled from 8 June, 1876, until his death, 21 February, 1908, Bishop Parra had been ejoled by the Liberal government from 1877 to 1878 on

account of his efforts to preserve the liberty of the Church. The present incumbent, Evaristo Blanco, was transferred from the Diocese of Socorro, 15 August, 1909.

The diocese has 52 parishes, 75 priests, a seminary, a normal school for women, 10 secondary schools for boys and 13 for girls, 180 primary schools with an average attendance of 10,500, 12 charity hospitals, 4 orphanages for girls, 3 for boj's, 2 homes for the aged, 1 convent of Poor Clares, 9 convents of the Sisters of the Presentation, 4 of Bethlehemites, 3 of Little Sisters of the Poor. The Jesuits, Eudists, and Christian Brothers maintain schools. At present the Catholic element is actively promoting good journal- ism and workingmen's societies, in order to counteract socialism and establish a Christian ideal of society. Antonio Jos£ Uribb.

Nueva Segovia, Diocese op (Novtb Segobi«), in the Philippines, so called from Segovia, a town in Spain. The town of Nueva, or New, Segovia was in the Province of Cagayan, and was founded in 1581. Manila was the only diocese of the Philippine Islands until 14 Aug., 1595, when Clement VIII created three others, namely Cebii, Nueva Cdceres, and Nueva Segovia. The latter see was established at Nueva Segovia. About the middle of the eighteenth century, the see was transferred to Vigan, where it has since re- mained. The town of Nueva Segovia declined, was merged with a neighbouring town called Lalloc, and its name preserved only by the diocese. Leo XIII (Const. "Qua; mari Sinico") created four new dio- ceses in the Philippines, among them Tuguegarao, the territory of which was taken from Nueva Segovia, and comprises the Provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and two groups of small islands. The terri- tory retained by the Diocese of Nueva Segovia em- braces the Provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Union, Pangasinan, five towns in the province of Tar- lac, the sub-province of Abra, and also a large part of what is called the Mountain province; all this territory lies between 15° and 19^ N. lat. and is located in the large island of Luzon.

The population of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia is about one million, consisting principally of the Ilocanos and Pangasinanes tribes, besides mountain- eers who are nearly all Igorrotes. The Ilocanos and Pangasinanes live, mostly, in the plain between the mountains on the east and the China Sea on the west. They were all converted by the Spaniards, and, up to the present time have, generally speaking, remained faithful to the Catholic Church. Since the Ameri- can occupation, a few Protestant sects have estab- lished themselves here, and have drawn a few of the ignorant class away from the Church. The fidelity of the Catholics was severely tested by the schism of 1902, started by Rev. Gregorio Aglipay, an excom- municated priest. He was born in this iliocese, was a high military oflScer during the rising of the natives against the American sovereignty, and found much sympathy, especially in this part of the islan<ls. He pretended to champion the rights of the native clergy, though the movement was political. He drew with him twenty-one priests and a large number of lay people. He and his movement have been discredited, and the people, in large numbers, have returned to the Church. Only a small part of the Igorrotes has been converted. The Spanish missionaries were evangeliz- ing them until 1898, when the insurrection against the United States broke out, and the missionaries had to flee. Belgian and German priests have taken the place of the Spaniards in the mi.ssionary field, and gradually are reclaiming the people from their pagan and especially from their bloodthirsty customs.

There is at Vigan a seminary-college under Spanish Jesiiit Fathers, with four hundred collegians and