Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/798

 PERU

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PERU

erected by the order during the viceroyalty, the church of Our Lady of Mercy is one of the most attractive- in Lima. In 1507, at the earnest request of PhiUp II, Saint Francis Borgia, then General of the Society of Jesus, sent the first Jesuits to Peru under Father Geronimo Ruiz Portillo, who with his .six eompanion.s arrived at CaUao on 28 Marcli, 1.5t)S, and entered Lima on 1 .April. .-Vs in Paraguay and other parts of South America, the work of the Jesuits in Peru was most effective in propagating the Faith among the Indians as well as in educating them. After estab- lishing a convent, a seminary, and a church in Lima, they built temples and school.^ in almost all the towns. At Juli. on the shores of Titicaca Lake, they founded a training school for missionaries (1577), where the novices were taught the native dialects. At that time the first printing press in South America was intro- duced by the order. Among their number were sev- eral of the most famous educators, historians, scien- tists, geographers, naturalists, and literary men of the period. Their educational institutions soon became renowned, not only in the American colonies, but also in Spain and Europe. The great and redeeming work of the Jesuits was flourishing when the decree of Charles III of 1769, ordering their expulsion from the Spanish domains, reached Peru and was executed by the Viceroy Manuel de .\mat.

The Dominican Geronimo de Loayza, first Bishop of Lima (154t>-1575), was succeeded by Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo (15.38-1606). Nominated to the See of Lima in 1578, he entered that capital on 24 May, 1581. He learned the Quichua language thoroughly in order to find out for himself the real condition and actual wants of the Indians, whose interests he pro- tected and promoted with the greatest zeal and care. Such was his activity that within comparatively few years he held fourteen synods and three councils, through which many beneficial reforms were insti- tuted; and personally visited twice the whole terri- tory under his jurisdiction, comprising at that time the greater portion of the South American continent. These tours of inspection he made on foot and ac- companied only by two of his secretaries. He had scarcely started on his third journey when death sur- prised him on 23 March, 1606. Among other works which stand as a lasting monument to his memory are the Seminary of Saint Toribio and the Convent of Santa Clara in Lima. The Holy Office was estab- lished in Peru in 1570, during the regime of the vice- roy Francisco de Toledo, the tribunal of the Inquisi- tion sitting at Lima and extending its jurisdiction over the Captaincy-General of Chile, the Presidency of Quito, the \'iceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, and part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. It was abolished on 23 Sept., 1813, when the Viceroy Abascal enforced the order to that effect, enacted by the Cortes of Cadiz on 22 Feb. of the same year. But shortly after Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne of Spain, the inquisition was re-established in Peru (16 Jan., 1815) and operated until its definite abolition in 1820, when the struggle for freedom had a.ssumed full sway. By an exT^ress provision, the jurisdiction of the Holy Office never comprised the Indians, who continued under the authority of the bishops and the ordinary courts.

For nearly three centuries, Peru was ruled by thirty- eight viceroys, or, in their stead, the government was temporarily exercised by the .\udiencia Real of Lima, founded in 1544. As the representative of the King of Spain the viceroy was vested with almost absolute powers, and besides his executive functions he dis- charged those of \'iee-Patron of the Church, Presi- dent of the Audiencia, captain-general of the army, and Superintendent of the Royal Exchequer. The movement for emancipation in Peru began early in the nineteenth century, but the first attempts were repressed with considerable severity, and it was not

until 28 July, 1821, that independence was declared. The defeat of the royalists at the battle of Ayacucho (9 Dec, 1824) put an end to the Spanish rule. Under the independent govertuiient, the executive a,ssumed the same rights of patronage vested in the viceroy, and the five difTerent constitutions adopted since the establishment of the republic recognized the Roman Catholic religion as the official church of the country with e-xclusion of any other.

Population. — The last census of Peru was taken in 1876, hence the present population of the repub- lic is known only approximately. According to the enumeration of that year, the number of inhabitants was 2,676,000. Recent estimates have, however, been made (1906) that show the population to have increased to 3,547,829. Of this total fifty per cent, is formed by Indians; fifteen per cent, by whites, mostly the descendants of Spaniards; three per cent, by negroes; one per cent, by Chinese and Japanese; and the remaining thirty-one per cent, by the off- spring of intermarriage between the different races. According to the ".\nnuario Ecclesiastico" of Rome (1909), the Catholic population of Peru is 3,133,830, distributed as follows among the various dioceses: Lima, 606,900; Arequipa, 270,460; Ayacucho, 200,610; Chachapoyas, or Maynas, 95,370 ; Cuzco, 480,680; Huiinuco, 288,100; Huaraz, 350,000; Puno, 260,810; Trujillo, 580,900.

Ecclesiastical Divisions. — The ecclesiastical Province of Peru comprises: one archdiocese, Lima, erected in 1543 and raised to metropolitan rank in 1546; nine suffragan dioceses, enumerated in order of seniority: Cuzco, 1536; Arequipa, 1609; Ayacucho, formerly Huamanga, 1615; Trujillo, 1616; Chacha- poyas, or Maynas, 1843; Hudnuco, 1865; Puno, 1865; Huaraz, 1900; and three prefectures Apostolic: San Leon de Amazonas, 1900; San Francisco del LTcayali, 1900; and Santo Domingo del Urubamba, 1900. The cathedral and episcopal residences are situated in the capital city of Lima. There are 66 parish churches in the Archdiocese of Lima, 85 in Cuzco, 71 in Arequipa, 102 in Trujillo, 87 in Ayacucho, 44 in Chachapoyas, 58 in Huanuco, 52 in Puno, and 48 in Huaraz. The num- ber of additional churches and public chapels is per- haps about three times this number, as each parish has three or four churches besides the parish church. The number of secular priests corresponds to the number of parishes, approximately one-fourth of the entire number, when the number of assistant parish priests, chaplains, and priests without regular ap- pointments are taken into consideration. The reli- gious orders, both male and female, are well repre- sented. In the Archdiocese of Lima the Franciscans have three convents, and the Lazarists, Redemptor- ists. Fathers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Jesuits, Mercedarians, Augustinians, and Fathers of St. Camillus one each. Among the women, the Tertiaries of St. Francis have five convents; the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny four; the Dominicans, Carmelites, Conceptionists, Salesians, Religious of the Sacred Heart, and of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary two each; the Poor Clares, Bernardines, Capuchin- esses, and Augustinians one each.

In the various dioceses many religious houses are to be found. Cuzco: Franciscans two, Dominicans, Mercedarians, Poor Clares, Carmelites, Dominican nuns. Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, one each; Arequipa: Franciscans two, Jesuits, Laz- arists, Salesians, Dominicans, Mercedarians, Domin- ican nuns, Carmelites, Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary one each ; Trujillo : Franciscans two, Lazarists, Conceptionists, Carmelites, Poor Clares, Tertiaries of St. Dominic one each; Ayacucho: Redemptorists, Franciscans, Carmelites, Poor Clares one each; Hudnuco: Franciscans, Tertiaries of St. Francis (women), Conceptionists one each; Huaraz: Franciscans, Sisters of Our Lady of Lourdes, Tertiai^