Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 16.djvu/66

 KOTTAYAM

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LAMBERT

consists of a series of pictures of life in a village in Co. Tipperary so true to nature that they could not have been WTitten but by one who knew and loved the people. He left behind another novel, "For the Old Land or a Tale of Twenty Years ago" (published in 1886), treating also of the small farmers under the old land system. His serial "Elsie Dhu " began in the "Shamrock" of 24 June, 1882, shortly before his death. No writer has produced more faithful pic- tures of Irish country life. He had wonderful powers of observation and delicate analysis of character. He wrote with restrained simphcity, and was skilful in intermingling humour and pathos. No other novels give a truer insight into the character and CathoUc spirit of the Irish peasantry.

M. R., Introduction to Knocknagow, ed. Duffy (Dublin. 1879) ; Hamilton in Did. Nat. Biog., s. v.: O'DoNOGHnE, The Poets of Ireland (Dublin, 1912). s. v.; O'Leary, Recollections of Fenians and Fenianism (Dublin, 1896); Irish Book Lover, II, III (1910- 1912) ; Brown, Reader's Guide to Irish Fiction (Dublin, 1910).

John MacErlean. Kottayam, Vicariate Apostolic of, on the Mal- abar Coast, India. — This vicariate forms part of the territory of the ancient Church of Malabar, which was founded by St. Thomas and was governed by Syro-Chaldean bishops until the end of the sixteenth century. In 1600 the Portuguese authorities sub- stituted Latin for the Syro-Chaldean bishops, and from this date until 1887 the Syro-Chaldean CathoUcs remained under the jurisdiction of the Latin bishops of Verapoly and Cranganore and, on the suppression of that see, of Goa. By the Brief "Quod jampri-

dem" of 20 May, 1887, Leo XIII separated the churches of the Syrian Rite on the Malabar Coast from the Latin churches, and, while leaving the lat- ter under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Ver- apoly and the Bishop of Cochin, erected the SjTian churches into two vicariates ApostoUc for Northern and Southern Malabar, styUng them the Vicariates of Trichur and Kottayam and declaring them inde- pendent of the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical prov- ince of Verapoly. By the Brief "Queb rei sacra;" of 28 July, 1896, a new division of the territory was effected; namely, into the three Vicariates of Trichur, Ernakulam, and Changanacherry, Kottayam being thus suppressed. On 29 August, 1911, however, Pius X, by the Decree "In Universi Christiani" restored the Vicariate Apostolic of Kottayam for the section of the SjTO-Malabar Christians known as the Suddhists, and it now includes all the Suddhist churches and chapels in the vicariates of Ernakulam and Changanacherrv. The vicar Apostolic is the Right Rev. Mary NIatthew Makil, D.D., Bishop of Tralles (b. on 27 ISIarch, 18.51 ; consecrated on 2.5 Oct., 1896), who was transferred from Changanacherry by the Brief " Magni momenti" of 13 August, 1911. The latest statistics for the vicariate show: 1 bishop; 30 (secular) priests; 12 seminarists; 19 sisters in 2 con- vents; 3 secondary schools for boys and 2 for girls; 35 parochial schools; 2 boarding schools; 1 orphan- age; 29,530 Catholics.

Catholic Directory of India (Madras, 1912).

MOIRA K. COYLE.

LaFarge, John, painter, decorator, and writer, b. at New York, 31 March, 1835; d. at Providence, Rhode Island, 1-1 Nov., 1910. His parents were John Frederick de LaFarge, a French naval officer, and Louise Josephine Binsse (de St. Victor). Though his interest in art was aroused during his college training at Mount St. Mary's and For d h a m Univer.sity,hehad only the study of law in \iew imtil he returned from his first ^^sit to Paris, where he studied with Cou- ture and enjoyed the most brilliant literary society of I he day. Even his earliest draw- ings and land- si-apes, done in Newport, Rhode Island, after his marriage in 1861 with IVIargaret Mason Perry, show marked originality, especially in the handling of colour values, and also the influence of Jap- anese art,, in the study of which he was a pioneer. La Farge's inquiring mind led him to exiieriment with col- our problems, especially in the medium of .stained glass. He succeeded not only in rivalling the gorgeousness of the medieval windows, but in adding new resources by his invention of o])alesccnt glass and his original methods of superimposing and welding his material. Among his many masteriiicces are the "Battle Win- dow" at Harv;ir<l and (he rUiisoiini "Peacock Win- dow" in the Worcester .\rt Museum. During 1859- 70 he illustrated "Enoch Arden" and Browning's "Men and Women". Breadth of observation and

structural conception, and a vivid imagination and sense of colour are shown by his mural decorations. His first work in mural painting was done in Trinity Church, Boston, in 1873. Then followed his decora- tions in the Church of the Ascension (the large altar- piece) and St. Paul's Church, New York. For the State Capitol at St. Paul he executed, in his seventy- first year, four great lunettes representing the history of rehgion, and for the Supreme Court building at Baltimore, a similar series with Justice as the theme. In addition there are his numberless minor paintings and water colours, notably those recording his exten- sive travels in the Orient and South Pacific.

LaFarge's writings include: "The American Art of Glass" (a pamphlet); "Considerations on Paint- ing" (New York, 1895); "An Artist's Letters from Japan" (New York, 1897); "The Great Masters" (New York); "Hokusai: a talk about Japanese painting" (New York, 1897); "The Higher Life in Art" (New York, 1908); "One Hundred Great Mas- terpieces"; "The Christian Story in Art"; and the unpublished "Letters from the South Seas"; and "Correspondence". His labours in almost every field of art won for him from the French Government the Cross of the Legion of Honour and membership in the principal artistic societies of America, as well as the presidency of the Society of Mural Painters. Enjoying an extraordinary knowledge of languages (ancient and modern), Uterature, and art, by his cultured personality and reflective conversation he greatly influenced all who knew him. Though natur- ally a questioner he venerated the traditions of religious art, and preserved always his childlike Catholic Faith and reverence.

W^ERN John LaFarge in Portfolio Series: CoRTissoz, John LaFarge (New York, 1911); New York Evening Post (15 Nov.. iniO) ; BouROET, Outre Mer; LaFarge in .America (27 May. New

Y'lrk, 1911). John LaFarge.

Lambert, Louis A., priest and journalist, b. at Ch;irl.ii, Pinn.svlvania, 13 .Vpril, 1835; d. at New- foundland, New'jersey, 25 Sept., 1910. Educated at St. Vincent's College and the Seminary of St.