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 PORTUGAL

306

PORTUGAL

Franciscan Sisters, Servite Sisters, Dorothcans, Sisters of the Missions. Salesians, Sisters of St. John of God, Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, Marist Sisters, Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, and Por- tuguese Sisters of Charity (Trinas).

C. Staiislics of Population. — The population of Portugal, according to the census of 1900, was 5,423,132, the greater portion (6S per cent) being rural. The North is more thickly populated than

Cloister of the Hieronymite .Monastery, Belem

the South, the maximum of density being reached between the rivers Douro and Ave. Emigration is increasing. In 1907, 45,000 individuals left their homes, 24,000 of these for Brazil and 6000 for North America.

D. Educalion.—Tlxe first modern law providing for the general instruction of the people was that of the Marquess of Pombal, dated 6 November, 1772. But this law remained a dead letter, and, though the Constitutional Charter guaranteed free primary instruction to all citizens, and a multitude of statutes dealing with the question have been subsequently passed, at least 70 per cent of the population can neither read nor write. The direction of primary education was formerly exercised by the University of Coimbra, but it now belongs to the Home Office, the cost being borne partiv by the Concelhos, partly b\- the State. At the end of 1904 there were 4968 primary schools on the Continent and the adjacent islands, 2953 being for boys, 1549 for girls .and 46 mixed, but some of these only exist on paper, and some hundreds of parishes have no school. More- over, the conditions of a large proportion of the schools are not good, while the teachers are ill-prepared and ill-l)aid. The backward condition of Portugal is largely attributable to its lack of instruction, and in view of the want of interest shown by the Govern- ment in non-political questions, private societies axe endeavouring to apply the remedy, .\inong these

are the Moveable Schools which teach according to the methods of the poet Joao de Deus, the recently formed National League of Instruction and other bodies, most of which are Freethinking in character. Before the Revolution the Republicans had identified themselves with a movement for lay-teaching, and their various centres had free schools attached, for the instruction of the children of their members.

Secondary instruction is given in the hjceos, which are found in all the principal towns, and in technical schools; but the boys of the better classes, prior to the Republic, were largely confided to the care of the Jesuits, and the girls to one of the many educational convents which then existed. There are also many private schools, some conducted by foreigners, where an ordinary business education can be had. The religious instruction of the people was far from satis- factory, and since the advent of the Republic is less so. Catechism used to be included in the curriculum of the government primary schools, but under the Republican regime is altogether excluded. There is no religious teaching in the hjceos, which are day schools, without proper discipline or any attempt at the formation of character. Higher education is given in the University of Coimbra {vni\x about 1450 students) and in various establishments of a special cliararter, such as the Curso Superior das Letras, the Medical, Army, Navy, and Polytechnic Schools, in Lisbon and Oporto. The university has a theo- logical faculty, with but very few students, owing to its unorthodox character. Ignorance of religion and of church history, and the reading of bad liter.a- ture go far to explain the anti-clerical feeling which prevails among the people generally in the towns, and especially in the capital. The Press is intel- lectually of little account, and its moral tone is low, especially in the case of the Republican organs, some of the most circulated of which are not fit for ]ierusal by women. The Catholic organs, "Portu- gal" of Lisbon and "Palavra" of Oporto, before they were suppressed by the Republic, enjoyed an increasing circulation, but an avowedly religious paper is suspected by the great majority of educated Catholics, who fear to be dubbed reactionary. It is the commonest ambition to be considered Liberal, though the w-ord is a misnomer in Portugal, where it stands for many ideas and aspirations essentially illiberal. The Republicans, though many of them profess Catholicism, have always been an anti- clerical party. They claim to defend the native secular clergy against religious orders who are mostly composed of foreigners, and especially against the Jesuits. They generally favour civil marriage, a divorce law, the abolition of religious processions in the streets etc. The Socialists go further and are frankly godless.

D. Laws Affecting Religion. — Previous to the Revo- lution of 1910, a testator might only dispose freely of a third part of his property by will; this is called the terga. The remaining two-thirds go to form the Icqitima of his heirs in the .ascending and descending line. A testator may not bequeath more than a third of his terga to be spent in prayers and masses for his soul, and ecclesiastical corporations may not benefit under his will to an amount ex- ceeding the third of his tcrqa. The testamentary dis- positions of a sick person in favour of his confessor, except such as are merely remunerative, are void if he dies of the illness during which he has made them. Professed religious women cannot make wills until they become secularized or their communities are 8U|3pressed, nor can they acquire anything by will, except by way of aliment, or money legacy, or other moveiibles. The Civil Code makes no mention of men bound by religious vows, because the law does not know them.

There was, under the Monarchy, no divorce law