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BOSNIA

study religious works. In the interest of his news- paper he became acquainted with Rev. Guido Alfani, P.M., director of the Florentine Observa- tory, who satisfied his religious difficulties and received him back into the Church.

On 18 July, 1914, Borsi received Holy Communion for the second time, and on 29 April, 1915, was confirmed by Cardinal Maffi, Archbishop of Pisa, and on 4 May following he began writing his "Spiritual Soliloquies," which are regarded by some critics as a twentieth-century version of the "Con- fessions" of St. Augustine, and in the opinion of Cardinal Maffi will stand with them as amongst the greatest ascetical literature produced by the Church.

Enlisting at once when Italy entered the war, in October, 1915, Borsi was sent to the Isonzo front, where he fell, mortally wounded, 10 November, while leading his platoon to attack. After his death his Colloquies, wnich are fifty-four in number, the last eighteen having been written at the front, were published, and translated by Rev. Pasquale Maltese under the title of "Soldier's Confidences with God." A series of letters to his fiancee, entitled "Confes- sions to Julia," are in course of publication. The influence of the spiritual writings of this young Italian, turned from a dissipated darling of the salons of Florence and Rome into an apostle of Catholicism, is a palpaUe force among the young men in Italy to-day, whose fruits cannot yet be reckoned.

Bosa, Diocese of (Bosanensis; cf. C.E., II-689b), in the province of Cagliari, Sardinia, suffragan of the Arcndiocese of Sassari. Rt. Rev. John Baptist Vinati, appointed to this see 19 January, 1906, was

Eromotea to the titular see of Mocessos, 1916, and is successor, Rt. Rev. Angelico Zanetti, O.F. M., now (1922) fills this see, having been appointed 16 December, 1915. In 1921 this diocese had a Catho- lic population of 30,200 and comprised 20 parishes, 55 secular priests, 7 seminarians, and 104 churches or chapels. The church of our Lady of the Snows at Cuglieri, constructed at the beginning of the four- teenth century, was erected into a minor basilica, 9 September, 1919.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (cf. C. E., II-694a), for- merly provinces in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now included in Jugoslavia. The census of 1910 gave the area and population as follows:

E

IS

District

J

Populat Per Squ MUe

Serajevo Tuzla. . . Banjaluka Bihac. . . Travnik. Mostar ..

Total

3,245

288,061

3,443

425,496

3,481

403,817

2,163

229,071

3,905

284,561

3,531

267,038 1,898,044

19,768

88

123

116

106

72

75

The population of the principal towns was as follows: Serajevo, 51,919; Tuzla, 11,333; Banjaluka, 14300; Bihac, 6,201; Travnik, 6,647; Mostar, 16,392. The census of 1910 showed an increase of 282,425 in the population of Bosnia since 1895; of 47,527 in the population of Herzegovina. The estimated population in 1920 was 1,931,802, and the area, 20,709 square miles. There are about 35,000 Albanians in the southeast, and 10,000 German and T3rrolese colonists; the rest of the population belongs to the South Slavonic peoples.

Economic Conditions.— The land question in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a very complicated one. Of mtdk or freehold proper, there is very little in Bosnia. The greater part of the cultivated land is mine, which is a leasehold tenure, paying tithe to the State as reserved rent. MiUk can be disposed of freely, mirie only with the consent of the State. The remaining categories include vakuf or Mahom- medan religious foundations, mevat, or waste and forest lands, and matruke (roads, etc.), the last two being state property. The result of the Turkish conquest has been the creation of an exclusive Mohammedan landlord class, the conquerors culti- vating very little themselves, the bulk of the land being worked by the original Christian owners {kmets). The peasant always enjoyed the right of pre-emption should the landlord be willing to sell, but until recently the terms on which he was obliged to raise the purchase money were so onerous that he was usually ruined in the process of acquiring property. In 1911, a law came into force to enable him to borrow from the State the whole sum required, but since this law contained no provisions for compulsory sale, the process of redemption was slow. However, between 1879 and 1900 about 26,000 kmets. became freeholders, the largest number of purchasers in one year being 1,539 in 1909, at which date some 80,000 kmeU still remained. Between December, 1911, and the end of July, 1912, 4,248 redemption loans amounting in the aggregate to £333,000 nad been sanctioned, the money being derived from a preliminary advance of £416,000 provided by two financial groups repre- sented by the Landesbank and the Agrarbank.

In 1910, the agricultural population of Bosnia-Her- zegovina was 1,668,887, or about 88 per cent of the whole. There were 31,416 free peasants who were also kmets, 151,598 landlords {agas, begs) and free peasants, 79,677 cultivators of land not their own {kmets).

Education. — According to a Jugoslav authority there were in 1916, 458 elementary schools, giving a proportion of one school to 4,(X)0 inhabitants. Education in 'the state schools is free. Secondary education is mainly dependent on 2 gymnasia at Serajevo and Mostar, and upon a realschule in Banjaluka. There are also a technical intermediate school, an institute for training teachers and a mili- tary academy. It is one of the grievances of the Jugoslav party that owing to practical exigencies, a knowledge of German is compulsoiy in secondary education.

Government. — ^Two years after the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina to Austria, a constitution was granted to the provinces by imperial decree. The elective machinery was good, as was shown by the orderly conduct at elections, but the legislative power conferred was too limited to give any real satisfaction and consequently became the subject of immediate protest ancf agitation. AH the Bills car- ried in the local legislature required confirmation in the Parliaments of Austria and Hungary and ap- proval by the Austro-Hungarian Common Ministry before they came up for royal assent. After the in- clusion of the provinces in Jugoslavia, the pro- vincial governments continued with the existing laws. According to the new constitution of Jugo- davia, Bosnia and Herzegovina form an autonomous province with a Diet of its own. It is to be divided into departments within its present limits and until this is enacted by law, the circuits of Bosnia and Herzegovina constitute departments. The union of these departments is to be carried out by the de- cision of the Departmental Skupsktinas (Legisla- ture) of the departments concerned by a majority