Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/449

 BEJA

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BEJA

Ameer Fakhr ed-Din (1595-1634) improved the city and made it better known in Europe. He was a ruler of genius, and succeeded in creating a principality all but independent of the Porte. Beirut was " his residence, and the environs his gardens. He planted near the city the beautiful pine wood which is still its finest walk. He had relations with the Venetians and with the Medici at Florence; in 1633 he embraced Catholicism, and in the following year suffered martjTdom for his faith. The fact is undeniable, for the letters of the Capuchin who was the means of his conversion have ju.st been published (de Barenton, O. M. C, "La France catholique en Orient", 1.58- 164). In the course of the seventeenth and eight- eenth centuries the Turkish Government succeeded in reducing the power of several native families that had forced themselves upon Beirut; at the present time Turkish authority is supreme. The city was shelled in 1840 by the "English and in 1860 occupied by the French after the frightful slaughter of Chris- tians in Syria; since that date it has been steadily thriving. Ships of the heaviest tonnage visit its harbour; railroads connect it with Damascus by way of Lebanon, and with Tripoli; carriage-roads connect it with the inland and seaboard tow^ls. The country is well watered and cultivated, and the view from the city is bea'itiful. Beirut is the capital of a homonymous \'iiayet. The population, which is about 150,000, shows a steady increase. There are 40,(J0 Mussulmans, besides the small garrison; 4(1.(100 Maronites, 35,000 Greeks, 12,000 Cathohc or Melfhite Greeks, 2,000 Latins, 2,000 Protestants, 2,000 Jews, Druses, and Gregorian Armenians, 1,000 Catholic Syrians and Armenians.

Apart from its interest as a Latin titular bishopric, it may be noted that Beirut is: (1) a Greek metro- politan see with about 70,000 believers and many elementary schools; in the city of Beirut are 5 schools for girls conducted by 23 teachers in the pay of the Russian Government; (2) a metropolitan see for Catholic Greeks or Melchites, who number about 15,000 and have a large college at Beirut; (3) a Maronite see, with 50,000 subjects; 50 churches and chapels. 30 priests, and a seminarj' and college located in the city; (4) a SjTian Catholic see, with about 1,000 faithful, the residence of the Syrian patriarch having been transferred from Mardin to Beirut. The Latin Vicar-Apostolic of SjTia, who is also the Apostolic delegate for Oriental rites, has been stationed since 1890 at Beirut (pre\aously at Aleppo), with about 6,000 under his spiritual rule.

In Beirut are many Maronite and Greek Catholic monasteries of Baladites, Aleppines, and Salvatorians, who unaided would be unable to compete with the Protestant propaganda which has taken Beirut as a centre whence it spreads over the whole of SjTia. Since 1866 the German mission has had charge of the Hospital of the Knights of St. John, an orphan asylum, and a school for girls conducted by dea- conesses. The Jewish mission of the Church of Scotland since 1864 has conducted two schools for boys and girls. Miss Taylor's "St. George's Insti- tute" has charge of Mussulman or Druse girls. Since 1860 the British Syrian Mission has had a parish, 10 schools, and a normal school for women. Since 1825 the Presbyterian Church of New York has maintained at Beirut a church, a printing- house, its Bible agency, and a school for girls. At a later period it built there the American university, which includes an intermediate college, a medical school, and a theological school for the training of native preachers and clergymen. It also publishes a newspaper and a review; and maintains outside of Beirut 130 primarj' schools with 109 teachers and 8,000 pupils. In spite of .so much effort and expense the Protestant missions have gained in the last 80 years only about 5,000 adherents in all Sj-ria.

The Catholic opposition to their propaganda is sup- ported chiefly by French missionaries. The Capu- chins, Franciscans, and Lazarists each have a monas- tery and a school; the Christian Brothers, schools and a college; the Sisters of Charity, priory schools, a boarding-school, an orphan asylum, and an indus- trial school for orphan girls; they also have charge of the hospital at the Catholic University. The Sisters of St. Joseph and the Dames de Nazareth have a boarding-school; the Sisters of the Holy Family, a school; the Mariamets, native nuns, their principal house. The most imposing institutions are those of the Jesuits. They maintain and direct outside of Beirut 192 schools for boys and girls, with 294 teachers and 12,000 pupils. There is in the city a faculty of medicine (120 students) founded in 1881 with the help of the French Government; its exami- nations are conducted before French and Ottoman physicians, and its diplomas are recognized by both France and Turkey. They conduct, moreover, St. Joseph's Catholic University, the title of which was granted by Leo XIII, 25 February, 1881. This miiversity includes: (1) a seminary (60 students) for natives of all rites, which up to 1902 had sent out 228 students, including 3 patriarchs, 15 bishops, 115 priests, and S3 friars; (2) a faculty of philosophy and theology (30 students), which grants the same degrees as the Gregorian L'niversity in Rome; (3) a faculty of Oriental languages and sciences, founded in 1902, which teaches the literary and conversational use of Arabic, Hebrew, SjTiac, Coptic, and Ethiopic; the comparative grammar of Semitic languages, the history and geography of the Orient; Oriental archce- ology; Gr£Eco-Roman epigraphy and antiquities;

(4) a classical and modern tuition college (400 pupils);

(5) 3 primary schools (600 pupils). A printing- house, inaugurated in 1853, is now famous as the foremost Arabic printing-house. Since 1871 the Jesuits have published " Al-Bashir", a weekly Arabic newspaper, and since 1898 a fortnightly Arabic review, "Al-Mashriq", the editors of which took rank at once among the best Orientalists. In 1906 they began a collection of philological papers, "Me- langes de la Faculte orientale de I'Universit^ Saint- Joseph". Finally, they contribute to many scientific periodicals and publish, chiefly in Arabic, works of great value. We may mention here another precious collection: "Documents in^dits pour servir ^ I'his- toire du christianisme en Orient", the first volume of which appeared at Paris in 1905. These mis- sionaries are the strongest bulwark of Catholicism in SjTia.

Robinson', Paldstina. III. 725 sqq.; Renan, Mission de Phenicie (Paris, 1864). 342-353; Piet5ch.mann, Geschichte der Phimicier, 50; Schureb, Geschichte des jiidischen Volkes, I. 340; DE Barenton, La France catholique en Orient (Paris, 1902), passim; Jtjllien. La nouvelle mission de la c. de J. en Surie (Paris. 1899); L'imprimerie catholique de Beyrouth et son aeuvre en Orient, 18BS-190S (Brussels, 1903); Gressien, Reponse a M. Chariot in Etudes. . . de la c. de J. (Paris, 5 December, 1906), 577-590; Melanges de VUniiersitc de St. Joseph (Beirut, 1906).

S. Vailhe.

Beja (Beiensis), Diocese op, in Portugal , suffragan of Evora. It was created 10 June, 1770, and numbers 175,000 Catholics, with 115 parishes, 120 priests, and 197 churches. It is the capital of the district of Baixo Alemtejo. The city is supposed to be the Pax Julia, or Paca, of the Romans, and is still sur- rounded by remains of old Roman walls, which, however, were partly restored during the Middle Ages. Beja was taken from the Moors in 1162 by AfTonso Henriques. It stands on the summit of a high hill surrounded by beautiful and fertile valleys under cultivation, as the district is rich in agricultural

Products, mainly cereals, olive oil, and wine. The est example of medieval architecture still extant in Portugal is the castle built in Beja by King Dom Diniz. It is a square, massive structure 120 feet high.