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 URSUS

230

URUGUAY

The foundress, who died in 1672, one year after Madame de la Peltrie, practised devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and had estabUshed it in the cloister years before the revelation to the Blessed Margaret Marj'. The first celebration of the feast in the New World took place in the monastery 18 June, 1700 (Mandemml of Bishop de St-Vallier, 30 March, 1700). The register of the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart begins in 1716. Clement XI (1718) enriched it with indulgences. The first superior elected (1760) after the conquest was Esther Wheelwright, a New Eng- land captive, rescued from the Abenakis by the Jesuit Bigot, and a protegee of the first governor, Vaudreuil. Besides the French, the Irish, Scotch, and American elements in Canada have given distinguished sub- jects to this cloister, prominent among whom was Mother Cecilia O'Conway of the Incarnation, the "first Philadelphia nun", one of Mother Seton's earliest associates. The fist of alumnte is not less remarkable. Conspicuous among its pupils were Jeanne Le Ber, the saintly "recluse of Montreal", and Venerable Mother d'Youville, foundress of the Grey Sisters at Montreal. The Quebec monastery founded convents at Three Rivers (1697), Roberval (1882), Stanstead (1884), and Riraouski, with a normal school (1906), besides sending missionaries to New Orleans (1822), Charlestown (Boston) (1824), Galveston (1849), and Montana (1893). During the Revolution several French refugees were chaplains to the monastery, the most notable being .\bbe L.-P. Desjardins, who died in France, Vicar-General of Paris. Through him were procured the valuable paintings by Philippe de Champaigne, Lebrun, Collin de Vermont, Peter of Cortona, and others, that adorn the chapel.

Glimpses of the Monastery (Quebec. 1897) ; Ch.<.POT, Hisioire de la Ven. Marie de V Incarnation (Paria, 1892); Les Ursulinea de Quibec (Quebec, 1863); Richaudeau, Lettres de la Ven. Marie de V Incarnation (Tournai, 1876); Casgkain, Histoire de la Ven. M. de V Incarnation (Quebec, 1864); La Vin. Marie de V Incarnation (Paris, 1910).

Lionel Lindsay.

Ursus, S.\INT, patron of the principal church of Solothurn (Soleure) in Switzerland, honoured from very early times, as a martyr of the Theban Legion, and recorded in the Roman Martyrology, with St. Victor, on 30 Sept. Relics of him are shown in many churches of Switzerland, and since the twelfth cen- tury the baptismal name LTrsus is very common in the neighbourhood of Solothurn. The legend, by St. Eucher of Lyons (Act a SS., Sept. VIII, 461 ), classed by Delehaye ("Legends of the Saints," New York, 1907, p. 120) among the historical romances, says that Ursus, after many cruel torments suffered for his constancy in refusing to sacrifice to the idols, was beheaded c. 286 under the Emperor Maximian Herculeus and the Governor Hyrtacus. Between the years 473 and SOO the body of St. Victor was brought to Geneva by the Burgundian Queen Theu- desinde; it is probable that about the same time a church was built over the remains of St. Ursus. In 1.519 the old coffin was found and the event was commemorated at Solothurn and Bern. The Roman urn containing the relics bears the inscription:

Conditus hoc sanctus

Tumulo Thebaidus Ursus. (Buried in this tomb is the holy Ursus the Theban.) Steuckelbero, Die schweizerisckcn Ileiliocn (Zurich. 1903), 120; BiiROENER, Helvetia sancta, II (Einsicdcln. 1S60),2,SS.

Francis Mershman.

Urubamba, Prefecture Apostolic of (Mis- lONE.s DE Santo Domingo de UnnBAMBA y Madre DE Dios), was created by a I'JeiTCe of the Holy See in 1899 at the request of the Peruvian Government. On 10 .\pril, 1902, three Dominican Fathers of the Span- ish province took charge of the missions, their number being gradually increased to eleven, which is the nun>-

ber at present working there, ten Spaniards, and one Peruvian. Still more recruits for this work are ex- pected, the vastness of the territories and the class of people to be civihzed and evangehzed requiring a still greater number for the work. All these missionaries are under the jurisdiction of the prefect Apostolic, the Rev. Fray Ram6n Zubieta, to whose efforts so much of the progress in civilization, as well as the rehgious and geographical survey of the Montaiia region in the eastern part of Peru, is due. The territorial hmits of these missions cannot be determined with certainty, but they are about one-eighth of the entire area of Peru. They are bounded on the north by Brazil and Bolivia; on the south by Puno and Cuzco; on the east by the Department of the LTcayabi and Cuzco; on the west by Bolivia. The inhabitants are for the most part savages, numbering about 60,000. The remain- der are whites or mestizos who devote themselves to the exploitation of the India rubber industry and com- mercial pursuits. Some of these have preserved some vestiges of the CathoUc Faith, but for the greater part they five in a state of complete indifference. The savages have no religion whatsoever, preserving only a vague sort of superstition concerning a supreme being and a spirit of evil.

These missions, after passing through many vicissi- tudes and surmounting great difficulties, have been able to estabhsh six stations: in Cuzco, Challabamba, San Jacinto, Sto Domingo, San Vincente, and San Luis. Of these the four last mentioned besides their chapels have free schools, the only ones among the .savages. In 1911, 360 baptisms, 241 confirmations, and 22 marriages were registered. The greatest good, however, that the missionary exercises in these re- gions is to uplift and maintain a moral level among these people, who without him would f aU into the most hopeless demoralization. He is the sole representa- tive of right, of humanity, and of religion.

Victorino Osende.

Uruguay (Republica Oriental del URrouAT), the smallest independent state in South America, extending from latitude 30° to 35° S. and from longi- tude 53° to 58° 30' W., lies south of the Province of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and east of the Rio Uru- guay, hence its local name, Banda Oriental, given in the old Spanish days. Its boundaries are: west, the Rio Uruguay; south the Rio Urugua}', south the Rio de la Plata, which separate it from the Argentine Republic for a distance of 425 miles, south also and east, the Atlantic Ocean for 200 miles, and Lago Mirim, a lagoon dividing Uruguay from the south- east of Brazil. The northern boundar)', 450 miles in extent, was definitively settled by treaty with Brazil on 15 May, 18,52, as the Rio Quaraim, the Cuchilla de Santa Ana to the Rio San Luis, thence to the Rio Jaguarao, and the western shore of Lago Mirim. Uruguay's greatest length is about 350 and breadth 300 miles, and its area 72,170 square miles, approxi- mately six times the size of Belgium, or double the size of the Stale of Indiana, U. S. A. The capital, Montevideo (properly San Felipe y Santiago de ^lon- tevideo), is situated in latitude 34° 54' S. and longitude 58° 32' W.

Natural Features. — The northern portion of the republic is hilly, the ranges being continuations of the Brazilian mountains; though the hills are termed cuchillas (knives), tlie summits are not sharp, but gently rounded; the chief groups are the Cuchilla de Santa Ana, 80 miles long and ItilX) feet high on the border of Brazil, the Cuchilla Grande, 210 miles long and 1500 feet high, running south-east across the country, and the Cuchilla de Haedo in the north- west, 275 miles long. The culminating point is Acequa in the Cuchilla Grande near the Brazil frontier, with an elevation of 2040 feet. The country lying fl,long the Atlantic is low, dismal, swampy, and sandy.