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 DENYS

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DENYS

Similar settlements followed during the fifties, their spiritual needs being provided for by priests sent by Bishop Lamy of Santa Fe, whose diocese then ex- tended as far north as the Arkansas River, the boun- dary of the Mexican cession. The discovery of gold,

Benedictine College, Pueblo

in 18.58, near the site of the present city of Denver, soon brought a great increase of population from the Eastern States. Mining camps and towns sprang up in great numbers throughout the whole Pike's Peak region. This territory was then a part of the vicariate of Bishop Miege of Leavenworth, and that prelate vis- ited Denver in 1860. Finding it practically impossi- ble to attend these distant missions. Bishop Miege secured their transfer to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Santa Fe. Bishop Lamy sent his vicar-general, the Very Rev. Joseph P. Slachebeuf, and a young priest. Rev. John B. Raverdy, to care for the mining regions and the new settlements. Father Machebeuf had spent eleven years in the missions of Northern Ohio, and ten years in similar work in New Mexico and Arizona, and was thus admirably adapted for the work before him. The two missionaries arrived at Denver in October, 1800, and for over seven years they laboured, almost unaided, visiting the immense territory confided to them, building churches wherever tlic prospects warranted such an undertaking.

The increase of population was so great during those early years, and the prospects of permanency became

so favourable that the Fathers of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore recommended to the Holy See the creation of the Vicariate Apostolic of Colorado and Utah. Consequently Father Machebeuf was nomi- nated to that office and was consecrated titular Bishop of Epiphania at Cincinnati by Archbishop Purcell, 16 August, 1868. The new prelate was born 11 August, 1812, at Riom,Puy-de-D6me, France. He was ordained priest 21 December, 1836, at Clermont-Ferrand, thesee

of his native diocese. When he took charge as vicar Apostolic he had but three priests within his jurisdic- tion, but he returned to the field of his work and re- doubled his own efforts, visiting every portion of his vast vicariate, doing the work of priest and bishop and endeavouring at the same time to secure priests for the rapidly increasing population. His zeal for re- ligion was shown also by his many efforts to secure locations for future churches, charitable and educa- tional institutions, several of which were built in his own time — notably, the Loretto Academy at Denver, in 1864, and later St. Joseph's Hospital, the House of the Good Shepherd, and the College of the Sacred Heart. In 1871 his burdens were scmewhat lightened liy the transfer of the Territory of LTtah to the juris- diction of the Archbishop of San Francisco. By Brief of 16 August, 1887, the Vicariate of Colorado was made a diocese with the episcopal see at Denver; and the Rev. Nicholas C. Matz appointed coadjutor with right of succession (19 August, 1887). He was consecrated titular Bishop of Telmessa, at Denver, by Archbishop Salpointe of Santa F^, 28 October, 1887. Bishop Machebeuf nevertheless relaxed but little of his missionary work after this, and retained the ad- ministration of the diocese until his death, on 10 July, 1889, leaving ui the diocese 34 secular and 30 regular priests, 112 churches and chapels, 1 college, 9 acade- mies, 9 hospitals, 2 asyhmis, and over 3000 children in Catholic schools.

Bishop Matz, who was bom 6 April, 1850, at Miinster, Lorraine, France, and ordained priest at Denver, 31 May, 1874, continued the good work of his predecessor. The diocese contains ( 1908 ) 62 secular priests, 71 priests of religious orders: Jesuits, Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, Redemptor- ists, Servites, and Theatines, engaged in parish and educational work, 2 colleges for young men with 261 students, 531 religious women of 15 different insti- tutes: the Sisters of Loretto, Charity (Mt. St. Joseph, Ohio), Charity (Leavenworth, Kansas), St. Joseph, Mercy, the Good Shepherd, Tliird Order of St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Benedict (Chicago, Illinois), Charity B. V. M. (Dubuque, Iowa), St. Francis of the Perpetual Adoration, Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart., St. Benedict (Erie, Pennsylvania), St. Joseph (Wichita, Kansas), St. Frantis of AssLsi. There are 4 orphan asylums with 588 children; an industrial and reform school with 225 inmates, a home, 15 hospitals with 11,300 patients annually, 10 academies with 900 pupils and 25 parish schools with 6000 children. The theological students number 10. There are 60 churches, 91 chapels, 140 stations, and a Catholic population of 99,485. The Sacred Heart Orphanage at Pueblo, sheltering 150 children, owes its existence and partial endowment to the generosity of Captain John J. Lambert of Pueblo, an exemplary Catholic prominent in works of charity and zeal. The English language is generally used, but in many of the mining districts and industrial centres there is a necessity for the Italian and Slav languages, while Spanish is usu- ally spoken in the southern parishes. There is no dio- cesan debt, and the individual chiu-ches and institu- tions are solvent and prosperous.

HowLETT. Life of Bishop Madiebriif (Denver. 1908); REnss. liiog. Cycl. of the Calh. Hierarchy of the U. S. (Milwaukee, 1898). W. J. HoWLETT.

Denys the Carthusian (Denys van Leeitwen, also Leuw or Lieuwe), b. in 1402 in that part of the Belgian jirovince of Limburg which was formerly com- prised in the county of Hesbaye; d. 12 March, 1471. His birthplace was Ryckcl, a small village a few miles from Saiiit-Trond, whence ancient writers have often surnamed him Ryckcl or a Ryckel. His parents, his- torians say, were of noble rank; he himself says, how- ever, that when a chilil he kept his father's sheep. His remarkable aptitude for mtellectual pursuits and