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 CULT

567

CUMMINOS

fpll into decay. For lack of a proper residence, the forty-ninth bishop, Franz Xaver Count Wrbna- Rydzynski, was only once in his diocese. After his death the see was vacant for ten years, and the diocese was administered by tlie coadjutor bishop, Nal^cz Wilkxycki. The Bull " De salute aniniarum", 1821, which provided for the reorganization of the Prussian dioceses, gave Culm new boundaries; to the old dio- cese were added parts of the Dioceses of Leslau, Gncsen, Flock, and of the former Diocese of Pome- sanien. In 1824 the seat of the bishop and the chap- ter was fixed at Peli)lin, where it still remains. The new diocese suffered above all from the lack of priests, the suppression of the monasteries, and the poverty of the Catholic population. Bishop Ignatius Matthy (1824-32) bent all his energies to the founding of a seminary for priests. Anastasius Sedlag (1834-56) made it his aim to give the diocese a uniform adminis- tration, to safeguard the property still remaining to the Church after its great los.ses, to promote the de- velopment of a capable clergy, and to increase the nimiber of priests. In the same way Johannes Nepomuk von der Marwitz (1857-86) devoted his entire attention to the founding of new cures and the reorganization of the old parishes. Unfortunately the diocese suffered greatly during the ecclesiastical struggle (Kullurkampf) with the Prussian Govern- ment. After peace had beeii restored the bishopric prospered again under Leo Redner (1886-98) and Augustinus Ro.sentreter (consecrated 9 July, 1899). In this period the diocese in some measure recov- ered from its losses; the suppressed monasteries have been partly refilled with religious, and new institu- tions of learning under the supervision of the Church have been founded. However, it still suffers from the effects of its earlier losses, and from the lack of labourers in the vineyard of the Lord.

Statistics. — The present Diocese of Culm includes the Pras.sian province of West Prussia with the ex- ception of five Government districts; it also includes two districts of East Prussia, two of Pomerania, and tliat of Broniberg belonging to Posen. The see em- braces altogether 409 square miles. In 1900 it had a Catholic population of 769,166 souls; in 1907, 780,000. The cathedral chapter is composed of two dignitaries, the cathedral provost and the cathedral dean, and eight prebends. In 1907 there were 4 episcopal commissariats, 27 deaneries, 275 parishes, 476 priests, 275 parish churches, 77 dependent churches, 9 other churches, and 37 chapels. Insti- tutions of le;irning under religious control are: the episcopal seminary for priests at Pelplin with 5 pro- fessors; the ppiscop.al seminary for boys at Pelplin with 12 eccli'siastical teaohers; the episcopal houses of studies at Culm, Konitz, and Neustadt. In the three towns just mentioned the gymnasia are Catholic in character. The diocese also possesses 4 Catholic seminaries for teachers, and 2 higher schools for girls. Orders for men have not existed in the dio- cese since the religious struggle (Kullurkampf) with the Government. The orders and congregations for women devote their attention almost exclusively to the care of the sick, the poor, and the children; but they arc not permitted to give elementary in- struction. In 190 the orders and congregations of female religious were: Sisters of Mercy of St. Vin- cent de Paul, 6 hou.scs with 102 religious; Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo, 2 houses with 39 religious; Sisters of St. Elizabeth, 12 hou.ses with 103 religious; Sisters of ,St. Francis. 2 houses with 22 religious. These religious have under their care 11 hospitals and asylums, 8 d.ay-nurseries, 1 housekeeping school, 1 needle-work school, 1 institution for sick and old religions, 1 home for .servants, 1 reform in- stitution for girls, 4 orj^hanages, and 12 stations for visiting nurses. The cathedral, formerly a Cistercian abbey church.

is the most important church building of the diocese; it is a brick Gothic structure with three naves, was erected in the fourteenth century, and completely restored, 1894-99. Other churches of note are: the parish church of Culmsee, built 1254-94 and used as the cathedral until 1824; the parish church of Culm, built in 1223; the churches of St. John, St. James, and St. Mary, all three erected in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. The most frequented places of pilgrimage are Maria-Lonk near Neumark (the miraculous picture of the Mother of God is now in the parish church of Neumark), and Mount Calvary near Neustadt with twenty-four chapels.

ScheTTiatirSmus des Bistums Culm mil dim lh'Krfinf.^si(zc in Pelplin (Pelplin. 1904) gives exhaustive ."ilati-iM, mI ii,p dio- cese and lists of the bishops of Culm, Ponies.-inn n, .nil ( u mvien (LesLau); Wolkv, Katalog dcr Bisdinfe vnn i ./;.i iii ,n!,~hpre 1S7S1; IiiKM, lTl<:,ndr„b„rli dcs Bislumx (uhn .|i;M,,r. I S,S4- S7), 11; rvNK.i, I i^Kl, ;i ,nid ihre Bau-und Kun-stdcnkmMcr (DiisseM.irt. l!)l)7i; tnr the churches in general see Bau- und Kunstdcnkmalcr der I'rovinz Westpreussen (Danzig, 1884 — ).

Joseph Lins. Cult. See W0R.SHIP.

Culturkampf. See Kulturkh^mpf.

Cummlngs, Jeremiah Williams, publicist, b. in Washington, U. S. A., April, 1814; d. at New York, 4 January, 1866. His father's death caused his mother to move to New York in his boyhood, and he was there accepted as an ecclesiastical student by Bishop Dubois, who sent him to the College of the Propaganda ;it Rome to make his theological studies. He displayed much ability, and after winning his doctor's degree returned to New York, where he was assigned as one of the assistants at St. Patrick's Cathedral. He there proved himself an accomplished linguist, writer, and musician, and an interesting and popular preacher and lecturer. In 1S4S Bishop Hughes selected liim to found St. Stephen's parish. New York, and to erect a church. Dr. Cummings was then, and had been for several years previously, the intimate friend and disciple of Orestes A. Brown- son, the philosopher and reviewer. He w'as instru- mental in having Brownson change his residence from Boston to New York, took charge of his lecture arrangements, and wrote frequent contributions for the "Review". "It w.as often complained of in Bro\vnson", says his son (Middle Life, Detroit, 1899, p. 132), "that he was lacking in policy, and no doubt he was in the habit of plain speaking; but Cummings was more so, and some of the most violent attacks on the editor and his ' Review ' were occasioned by unpalatable truths plainly stated by f'ummings".

Cummings was one of the leading spirits in a little club of priests and laymen, who were opposed to what they called tlie "Europeanizing" of the ('hurch in the United Stales by the foreign-born teachers, to the system of teaching in vogue in the Catholic colleges iind seminaries, and who were in favour of conciliating those outside the Church by the use of milder polemics. In an article on " Vocations to the Priesthood" that Dr. Cummings contributed to " Brown.son's Review" of October, bSliO, he severely criticized the management and mode of instruction in Catholic colleges and seminaries which he .styled "cheap priest-factories". This aroused a bitter controversy, and brought out one of the noted e.ssays by Archbishop Hughes, his "Reflections on the Catholic Press".

Under the atlministration of Dr. Cummings St. Stephen's, which he had completed in March. 18.54, became the most fasliionable and most freipiented church in New York, its sermons and music making