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 BORNEO

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BORRAS

Borneo, Prefectures Apostolic of. — I. Dutch Borneo. — The former Vicariate of Ba- tavia WAS composed of Sumatra, Java, and the other Sunda Islands, including Borneo, under the control of Holland. The northern part of Borneo, now under British suzerainty, was separated from this immense vicariate, 27 August, 1855; that part of Borneo which is under Dutch rule was taken from the A'icariate Apostolic of Batavia, 11 February, 1905, and made into a separate prefecture under the care of the Capuchins. The missionaries for the new prefecture were selected from the Dutch province of this order, and the first prefect .4postoIic was appointed 10 April, 1905. Up to the time of the separation what is now the Prefecture of Dutch Borneo was administered by the Jesuits who had charge of the Vicariate of Batavia, and who visited the Catholics of Dutch Borneo twice a year. In 1875 the Jesuit Father de Vriez built a little church at Singkawang, a small town situated on the west coast of the island. In the neighbourhood of Singkawang there were nearly 200 Chinese Catholics and 118 soldiers. In 1890 Father Staal, afterwards Vicar Apostolic of Batavia, founded a station in the interior at Smitau. The station was afterwards transferred to Sedjiram on the Penboeang in the region inhabited by the Dyaks. The mission at Sedjiram gave good promise of suc- cess and in 1897 included 400 baptized persons, but the missionaries were too few in number to give the station constant supervision, and it was consequently abandoned. Later the Holy See decided to erect a separate prefecture covering an area of 204,633 square miles. According to the "Statistics of the Capuchin Missions" for 1906, there were in Dutch Borneo at that date 8 Capuchin priests; 4 brothers; 396 Catholics, consisting of 210 Chinese, 100 Dyaks, and 86 Europeans; 2 stations, Singkawang and Sedjiram; 3 chapels; 20 conversions were claimed. There had been 56 baptisms and 156 communions, the latter number referring to the Catholic laity as, outside of the Capuchins, there are no religious in the prefecture. The population included in the pre- fecture is 2,000,000. A report of 26 November, 1906, gave the founding of a tliird station at Samarinda on the east coast of Borneo, some two weeks' sail from Singkawang, and of a fourth station at Pamangkat, which is seven hours from Singkawang.

Analecta Ord. Min. Cap. (September, 1805; April. 1907); Streit. Atlas des missions cath.; Bemmelen and Hooper, Guide to the Dutch East Indies (London, 1897); Statesman's Year Book (1907), 1251.

II. British Borneo, or The Prefecture of North Borneo and L.*^bd.\n. — In 1687 Father Venti- miglia, a Theatine, was commissioned by Pope Inno- cent XI to preach Christianity in Borneo. There are no memorials of this mission, which has left no traces in the island although the missionary declared that God had blessed his labours. The Propaganda, 27 August, 1855, decreed the erection of the northern part of the island of Borneo into an independent prefecture and entrusted it to the Rev. Charles Cuarteron, a Spaniard. Father Cuarteron was originally a sea-captain and had vowed, after es- caping great peril, to devote himself to the evangeliza- tion of Borneo. He landed at Labuan in 1857, in company with several missionaries who deserted him in 1860. Although alone in the island of Labuan, Father Cuarteron courageously continued his labours. At length, seeing that isolation made him powerless, he went to Rome in 1879 to request that the Propa- ganda place the mi.ssion in charge of an institute. From Rome Father Cuarteron went to Spain, where he soon died. The British had obtained the island of Labuan in 1846; they gradually extended their power over the petty rulers of the northern part of Borneo until, in 1888, the British Protectorate of North Borneo was formally acknowledged. English-

speaking missionaries being desired in the British part, of Borneo, the Propaganda (19 March, 1881) confided the mission of North Borneo and Labuan to the Society for Foreign Missions of Mill-hill, England. The first prefect Apostolic appointed under the new administration was the Rev. Thomas Jackson. The society has since continued in charge of the mission.

The island of Labuan has an area of 30 square miles and contains 6,800 inhabitants; it is an im- portant shipping station between Singapore and Hong- Kong. The prefect Apostolic lives at Labuan. The stations served are Labuan and Sarawak (Kuching), the two most important towns. Outside of these two places where the missionaries live there are ten stations which are visited: Sibu, Kanowit, Egan, Oya, Mukah, Baram, Papar, Jesselton, Patatan, and Sandakan. According to the " Missions-Atlas " of P. Streit, the statistics of the mission are: 19 regular priests; 2 lay brothers; 15 sisters; 8 churches; 20 chapels; 16 catechists; 14 schools with 740 pupils; 2,600 baptisms; about 1,000 catechumens.

Werner, Orbis terr. Cath. (Freiburg. 1890); B.ittandier, .Inn. Pont. Cath. (1907); Missiones Calholicm (Rome, 1901); Guillemakd, Australasia (London. 1894), II; Beccari, In the Great Forests of Borneo (London, 1904); Nyoak, The Rtligious Rites and Customs of the Ibau or Dyaks of Sarawak in -4 nthropos (Salzburg. 19pfi), I, U sqq.; British North Borneo Herald (Sandalian), files. ALBERT B.\TT.U^DIER.

Borras, Francisco NicolXs, a distinguished Spanish painter, b. at Cocentaina, 1530; d. at Gandia, 1610. Going to Valencia at an early age to study un- der Vicente Joanes, he became that master's most noteworthy pupil. His works in general resemble those of Joanes and some of them are good enough to have been taken for the master's. Entering the priest- hood, he was assigned to his native place, where he devoted all his spare moments to painting and acquired such skill that the authorities of the monas- tery of St. Jerome, at Gandia, employed him to paint the picture for the high altar of their church. He enjoyed his stay at the monastery so much, that taking a great liking to the brothers and their life he determined to ask for no other payment for his work than membership in the order. He received the habit in 1575, and took the final vows the follow- ing year. Three years thereafter, Fra Nicolds, in search, perhaps, of an even more austere life, spent some little time with the Capuchins at the Franciscan monastery of San Juan de la Riviera near Valencia. He was soon back, however, at Gandia where he passed the rest of his life painting in every part of the monastery, in the church, chief chapel, chapter house, oratories, refectories, and cloisters, leaving twelve altar pieces in the church alone. He also spent his own money in the employment of sculptors and builders for the embellishment of his beloved monastery.

Besides his great labours at Gandia, Borras also did much work for churches and religious houses in Valen- cia, at the capital, and elsewhere. His paintings appeared at the cathedral at Valencia and at the hieronymite monastery in the city of San Miguel de los Reyes, where there was a " Christ at the Column ", and a picture of the painter in adoration of "Tlie Holy Virgin". Others were at his native place in tlie church of St. Stephen, in the Escorial at Aldaya, and at Ontiniente. In the Museum at Valencia there are some fifty paintings by Borras chiefly from Gandia and San Miguel. Among them are "The Last Supper", "Christ Bearing His Cross", "The Dead Saviour in the Arms of the Eternal Father", and "The Archangel Michael Driving Souls into Purgatory and Hell". In the last Borras is sup- posed to have pictured himself as a white robed monk kneeling on the brink. Stirling-Maxwell, Annals of the Artists of Spain (London,

1891). Augustus van Cleef.