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 seized and plundered in 1757 by the Austrians. and in 1760 by the Russians; but under the wise rule of Frederick the Great (Frederick II) it rapidly recov- ered from the damage done to it and became an im- portant centre of commerce, industry', and intellectual life. The number of inhabitants increased to 115,000. Frederick William II also spent large sums of money in beautifying the royal city. Under Frederick Will- iam III there was a temporarj' check to its develoi)- nient during the era of the Napoleonic ascendancy. In 180S the city acquired the right of self-government to a limited dcCTee, and in 1809 the University of Berlin was founded. During the long period of peace which followed the downfall of Napoleon a new de- velopment of the city began and its artistic embellish- ment by Schinkel, Ranch, Schadow, and others made rapid progress. In 1838 the first railway, from Berlin to Potsdam, was opened; the railway traffic increased the industrial importance of the city, and in 1844 the first large industrial exhibition of the German States belonging to the customs-union was held here. On the loth of March, 1848, a revolution broke out; more than 1,000 barricades were erected, and en- comiters between the soldiers and the populace oc- curred; on the 18th of March a bloody struggle took place in the streets of Berlin in which the soldiers were victorious, but they afterwards withdrew from the city at the order of the king. In 1871 Berlin be- came the capital of the new German Empire. From 13 June to 13 July, 1878, were held the sessions of the Berlin Congress; since this date Berlin has developed into a great metropolis; it has become the most important industrial city of the Euro- pean continent, the most important railway centre, and one of the chief commercial cities of the empire. For about one hundred and fifty years after the Reformation Catholicism was suppressed in Berlin; public Catholic church ser'ices were forbidden; Mass could be said only in the private chapels of the Catholic embassies. As late as 1653 the elector was oliliged to promise the Protestant diet that he would not allow private or public Catholic church services. In order to be able to raise troops more easily in Catholic districts Frederick William I in 1720 gave the first permission for the holding of public Catiiolic services in a private house in Berlin; soon after this the first Catholic chapel was fitted up. The pastoral care was exercised by Dominicans from Halberstadt; the saintly Father Bruhns being particularly succes.s- ful in his labours. The conquest of Catholic Silesia l)y Frederick the Great drew many Catholics to Berlin, and the church of St. Hedwig was built for the Catholic community (1747-73), Frederick the Great giving the ground. He ahso built a small church at the home for disabled soldiers, for the Catholic pensioners. The addition of large Catholic territories in consequence of the partition of Poland, the secu- larization of 1802-03, and that of 1815 by the Vienna Congress likewise increased the number of Catholics in Berlin, but it was not until 1848 that they ob- tained more freedom. Since then the growth of the Catholic population has kept pace with the develop- ment of the municipality. I'nder Frederick the Great the Catholic population was about 5,000 in 107.000 inhabitants; in 1817 there were 186,570 Protestants to 6,157 Catholics; in 1843, 16,453 Catho- lics to 328,253 Protestants; 1853, 19,075 Catholics; 1871, 51,517; 1885, 99,579; 1900, 188,440 Catholics in Berlin proper. Church buildings did not increase in the same ratio, and the need of more edifices grew continually greater. With the aid of the whole of Catiiolic Germany a number of Catholic churches was erected in the decade beginning with 1890 to meet this want, but the construction of new church Iniildings, especially in the rapidly growing environs and suburbs of Berlin is still one of the most impera- tive needs of Catholicism in the capital of the Ger- man Empire. St.tistics. — Ecclesiastically, Berlin belongs to the Delegation of the Mark of Brandenburg, which is under a delegate of the Prince-Bishop of Breslau; the delegate is the Provost of St. Hedwig's in Berlin. Tlie Archipresbyterate of Berlin embraces the city of Berlin with the exception of a small part of Fried- richsberg (2,686 Catholics), and includes also the suburbs called Treptow, Stralau, Schoneberg, and a part of Chariot tenburg (as far as the parish of St. Matthias); the Catholics in the presbj'terate num- bered in 1907, 239,666, of whom 221,262 lived in Berlin proper. The other suburbs, both large and small, belong to the Archipresbyterate of Charlotten- burg. In 1907 the Catholic clergj' of Berlin consisted of 13 clergy of higher rank (the provost, 7 parish priests, and 5 military chaplains), 31 assistant clergj'. 7 priests in other positions, and 15 living in com- munity — altogether 66 priests, of whom 26 do not come from the Diocese of Breslau. The archipres- bj-terate is divided for the cure of souls into 14 dis- tricts composed of 8 parishes and 6 vicariates; in 1907 another vicariate was in process of erection. The Catholic soldiers are formed into 5 church com- munities or parishes; Berlin is al.so the seat of the Catholic field-provostship for the Prussian army and the imperial na'j'. In 1907 Berlin had 8 Catholic parish churches and 18 chapels where public church services were held; these with the private chapels made 31 church edifices; 1 church building and 1 chapel were then in process of construction. With the exception of the church of St. Hedwig and the church in the home for invalided soldiers, all of the Catholic church buildings of Berlin were erected in more recent times. The principal churches are: St. Hedwig (1747-73 — see above); in the style of the Pantheon at Rome; St. Michael, the first Catholic garrison-church of Berlin (1851-61) in early Renais- sance style; St. Sebastian, the largest Catholic church of Berlin (1890-93) in Gothic style, tower 269 feet high; St. Paul, a Dominican church (1892-93) in Gothic style; St. Matthew, a Gothic building (189.3- 95), tower 302 feet high; St. Pius (1893-94), rather tasteless Gothic; St. John, the second Catholic garri- son church and one of the largest church buildings of Berlin (1894-97), in Romanesque style; church of the Heart of Jesus (Herz-Jesukircke), Romanesque style (1897-98). Schools. — There has been no public Catholic higher school for boys in Berlin since the struggle between the Cathohc Chiuch and the State {Kiillur- kampj) swept away the Catholic Progj-mnasium; there is, however, a private higher school for boys with about 130 pupils. The Catholic boys who at- tend the state and city high-schools are divided, for purposes of religious instruction, into twelve groups of four sections each. There are 3 higher Catholic schools for girls; two of these prepare teachers, and one is conducted by the Ursulines and includes a conservatory of music. There are 30 Catholic schools for primarj' instruction, attended by over 20,000 Catholic children, namely the parish school of St. Hedwig and 29 Catholic town-district schools. Orders, Congregations, .^nd Ch.uiitable In- stitutions. — The male orders in Berlin are: Domin- icans, 1 house with 10 priests and 7 brothers; the Poor Brothers of St. Francis, 1 house with 17 brotheis who carry on an orphan asylum for boys. The female orders and congregations in Berlin proper had, in 1907, 18 houses and 387 inmates: the Ursulines. a house with 37 inmates, car^j- on a boarding-school for girls, a higher school for girls united to a private seminary for teachers and a conservatorj- of music; the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo, a house with 56 Sisters, have charge of St. Hedwig^s hospital, which has an average of 530 patients and 160 con-