Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/473

 SAMOA

421

SAMOS

Sailer, Joseph Anton Samhuya, wie er war (Munich, 1816); the same account in Sailer, Biographische Schriflen, I, in Sailer's collected works, vol. XXXVIII (2nd ed. Sulzbach, 1841), 157-416.

Friedrich Lauchert.

Samoa (or Navigators' Islands), a group of islands situated in latitude 13° 30' and 14° 30' south and longitude 168° and 173° west, and composed principally of fertile mountainous islands, such as Savai'i, Upolu, Tutuila, Manu'a, of volcanic and coral formations. The natives are tall, muscular, hardy, and fearless seafarers, but ferociously cruel (formerly cannibalistic) in war; hospitable, but indolent in peace; of dignified and courteous bearing, and skilled in debate. The aboriginal government was an aris- tocratic federation of chiefs, chosen from certain fami- lies, controlling the royal succession.

The first mission work in these islands was done by John Wilhams, of the London (Protestant) Mission- ary Society, 1830. In 1836 Gregory XVI divided Oceanica (which includes Samoa) between the Society of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the Ma- rists. The First Catholic missionaries, Marists, landed in Samoa in 1845. In 1851 the Vicar Apostolic of Central Oceanica appointed by Pius IX was also Ad- ministrator of Samoa. This double title was borne by the succeeding bishops, Elloy and Lamaze, until 1896, when Mgr Broyc^r was appointed Vicar Apos- tolic of Samoa and Tokehiu, with residence at Apia. The total population is estimated at 37,000, of whom 7500 are Catholics, with 1 bishop and 21 priests, sev- eral of them natives. There are 17 churches with resident pastors, 100 chap(>l stations under married catechists, schools under Sisters of the Third Order of Mary. Divorce and immorality are the principal ob- stacles to Catholic progress. The London Missionary Society has 12 missionaries and 8658 church mem- bers. There are also Mormon and Wesleyan missions.

The European name of these islands was given them by Bougainville in 1768. In 1872 Commander Meade, U.S.N., negotiated the concession of a coaling station in Tutuila; this was ratified by a treaty in 1878. Treaties \\\i\\ (ierniaiiy and (ircat Britain fol- lowed in 1879. Native dynastic disorders and con- sular aggressions necessitated the Berlin Conference of 1889, between the interested powers, resulting^ in a tripartite government of the islands by the United States, Germany, and Great Britain. Popular disap- proval in the United States of "foreign alliances" led to the dissolution of this agreement and a partition, in 1899, Tutuila and the islands east of 171° W. longi- tude passing under American control, the rest to Ger- many, under an imperial governor. Tutuila still re- mains (1911) under native chiefs and laws (when not conflicting with American law), with supervision by the commandant of the United States Naval Station.

MoNFAT, Les Samoas, etude historique et religieuse (Lyons, 1890); VioLETTE, Dictionnaire Samoa-frangais-anglais, et Gram- maire (Paris, 1879); Turner, Nineteen Years in Polynesia (Lon- don, 1861); Kramer, Die Samoa-Inseln. (Stuttgart, 1902) ; Griffin, List of Books in Library of Congress on Philippine Islands, Samoa and Guam, with Maps by Phillips (Washington, 1901); London Missionary Society; Report for 1907; Herviek, Les Missions Maristes en Oceanie (1902); Annals of the Propaga- tion of the Faith (190.5); Buchberger, Kirchliches Handlexikon (Munich. 1910); Battandier, Anntiaire Pontifical Catholique; Missionsbote (Steyler, 1905-06); Compilation of Messages and Papers of Presidents of the U. S.from 1787-1897. VII, VIII, IX, X (Washington), s. w. Grant, Hayes, Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley; Foreign Relations of the U. S., Correspondence, etc., relating to Samoa; 51st and 53rd Congress; Foster, A Century of American Diplomacy (New York and Boston, 1900); Idem, American Diplomacy in the Orient (New York and Boston, 1903); Tutuila; Memoranda furnished by Navy Department to 57th Congress, U. S. Senate (1902). W. F. SaNDS.

Samogitia, Diocese of (Samogitiensis), a Rus- sian diocese, also called Telshi (Telshe), including the part of Lithuania lying on the Baltic; this Lithu- anian distiict, also named Sehmudien (Polish, Zmudi) or Schamaiten (Lithuanian, Zemaitis), was conquered about 1380 by the Teutonic Knights,

and ceded to Poland in 1411 by the first Treaty of Thorn after the defeat of Tannenberg. During the supremacy of the Teutonic Knights a part of the inhabitants had been baptized, but Christianity had not become firmly established. King Jagello of Poland (1386-1434) travelled through the country, gave instruction in the Christian religion himself, and called upon the people to be baptized. He founded the Diocese of Samogitia with its see at Miedniki, his act being confirmed by the Council of Constance in 1416, and the cathedral, which was dedicated to Saints Alexander, Evantius, and Theo- dul, was erected in 1417. The first bishop was a German named Matthias; he was succeeded in 1421 by Nicholas, a Pole. Until the sixteenth century a large part of the people were strongly incHned to heathenism. Among the later bishops should be mentioned Melchior I (1574-1609), who rc-estabhshed Catholicism after the Reformation. His predecessor George III founded a seminary foi priests. There was an uninterrupted succession of bishops until 1778. The see then remained vacant, and in 1798 the dio- cese was suppressed, after it had fallen to Russia in the third Partition of Poland in 1795. Up to that time it had been a suffragan of Gnesen. In 1849 it was re-established as a suffragan of Mohilev. The first bishop of this second period was Matthias \^"olonzewski. The see is Kovno on the Njemen. By the convention made in 1847 between Pius IX and Russia the diocese includes the governments of Courland and Kovno, which have together an area of about 26,219 square miles. The Catholic population of thg two govern- ments is 1,258,092; there aie 426 parishes and de- pendent stations, and 600 priests.

RzEPNiCKi, Vit(E pra:sulum PolonicE,l\l (Posen, 176.3), 26-42; Gams, Series episcoporum (Ratisbon, 1873), 357; Die kalholische Kirche unserer Zeit, ed. by the Leo Association, III (Berlin, 1902), 159-60; Directorium pro dioecesi Telsensi (Kowno, 1910).

Klemens Loffler.

Samos, titular see, suffragan of Rhodes in the Cyclades. The island, called in Turkish Soussan- Adassi, is 181 sq. miles in area and innnbers 55,000 inhabitants, nearly all of whom are Greek scliisniatics. There are nevertheless some Catholics dependent on the Latin Bishop of Chios and two convents of Fathers of the African Missions of Lyons and of Sisters of St. Joseph. Since 1832 the island has con.stituted an autonomous principality, governed by an Ottoman Greek appointed by the Porte and rec- ognized by England, France, and Russia. Samos was first inhabited by the Leleges, Carians, and lonians, the latter being very active and given to navigation. Its greatest prosperity was attained under the tyrant Polycrates (536-522 B.C.) at whose court the poet Anacreon hved. The philosopher Pythagoras (b. at Samos) seems to have lived at the same time; .^sop also stayed there for a long time. At the assassination of Polycrates Samos passed under Persian domination, and, about 439 b. c, partici- pated in the Greek confederation especially with Athens. This city, under Pericles, took it by force. Henceforth it had various fortunes, until the Romans, after pillaging it, annexed it in a. d. 70. It was in- cluded in the Province of the Isles. Under the Byzantines Samos was at the head of a maritime theme or district. It was captured and occupied in turn by Arabian and Turkish adventurers, the Vene- tians, Pisans, Genoese, and Greeks, and the Turks in 1453. These various masters so depo])ulated it that in 1550 Sultan Soliman had transported thither Greek families, whence sprang the present population. From 1821 to 1824 Samos had a large share in the war of independence and won several victories over the Turks. Among its bishops Le Quien (Oriens Christ., I, 929-32) mentions: Isidore I, at the begin- ning of the seventh century; Isidore II, in 692; Herac- lius, in 787. Stamatriades (Samiaca, IV, 169-255)