Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/865

 GRE60RAS

779

GREGORIAN

Vincpnz Kampe (1537). As mentioned above, the set- tlers received no reinforcements, and either perished or. by intermarriage, were assimilated liy the pagan Eskimos. European manners and religion thus gave way to pagan barbarism. From the standpoint of the history of civilization it is remarkable that daring navigators had penetrated to the "Srd degree of north latitude as early as 113.5, and that the first Arctic expedition was undertaken in 12li under the guidance of Catholic priests. Numerous stone monuments and ruins recall tliis early Norse Christian period. Of special imjiortance are the ruins of a Romanesque church at Kakortok which, although comparatively small, warrant us in making inferences as to the style and size of other places of worship. Tombstones with runic inscriptions have also been discovered. A few documents have been preserved to which are attached the seals of the Bishops of Gardar (see Cronau, "Amerika", I, 114).

Christianity having disappeared from Greenland for the space of two hundred years, and when Den- mark had ceased to give the island any thought, Hans Egede, a Lutheran pastor at Vaagen. concei\ed the idea of visiting his forlorn coimtrymen who had lapsed into paganism, and of preaching the Gospel to them. After overcoming all difficulties, he handed in his resignation as pastor and, together with his wife and children, went first to Bergen to establish a Greenland trading company and then, failing in this, to Copen- hagen. When presented to the king he managed to interest him in his cause and succeeded in laimching the trading company. In his capacity of supreme bishop, the king appointed Egede missionary. After many hardships he reached Greenland, but soon per- ceived that no descendants of the ancient colonists re- mained, and that his whole duty would consist in con- verting the savage Eskimos. By diligent application he acquired their language and, supplementing the spoken word with pictures, induced these people to embrace Christianity. He remained fifteen years in Greenland and formed a small congregation. After Egede's de- parture, his son Paul continued his pastorate, completed his father's translation of the New Testament, and compiled a catechism in the Eskimo language. The elder Egede founded a Greenland seminary in Co- penhagen and also wrote considerably. In 1740 he received the title of Superintendent of Greenland. He died, 5 November, 1758, at Stubbekjoping on the island of Falster. Since that time a number of preachers have endeavoured to Christianize the ab- origines with more or less success. They were as- sisted in tliis work by German Moravian brethren, of whom Stack, David, Bohnisch, and Beck had already (1733-34) laboured in the field. Their first followers were a certain Kajarnak, his wife and chil- dren, who were baptized in 1739. After fourteen years' work a small congregation was established, and a mission house built. The Lichtenfels mission was established in 1706; that of Lichtenau, in 1774; that of Frederiksdal. in 1824. After a century of existence there were four mission stations ftwcnty-seven male and female missionaries) with 1799 wards (of whom 1715 were b.aptized, and 736 communicants), to which mmiber were added in 1861 the Umanak mission, and in 184 the Idlorpait. The largest membership was attained in 1857 (1965 members; about 900 adults). Since then decay has set in,, ascribed variouslj- to dif- erences of opinion among the brethren, millennarian tendencies among the neophvtes, and friction with the Lutheran ministers of the established Church. Without doubt the action of the Government in dis- persing the Greenlanders over their extensive hunting territories was an obstacle to their conversion, as their concentration during the winter season would natur- ally make them more amenable to spiritual influences. It is apparent that, under these circumstances, their conversion to Christianity was in most cases rather

superficial— a fact also confirmed by reliable witnesses. The history of the Moravian brethren admits that the entire education of the i;skims (Lutheran) is limited to reading, writing. and the singingof songs; that thrift antl benevolence are almost unknownamongthem,and that their morality in general is, to say the least, ques- tionable. The first volume of the work describing the second German Arctic expedition of 1869-70 contains (pp. 160 and 195) an account of the church at Lich- tenau and thecemetery at I'redrikshaab. which throws much light on the religious conditions of that time and also corroborates the opinion that even the de- scendants of Danes and aborigines most conmionly revert to barbarism — a poor result for the self-sacrifice of such men as Kleinschmidt and Cranz, the former a translator of the Bible and composer of various hymns, and the latter an historian of Greenland. In 1900 the Moravian mission resigned their parishes to the preachers and instructors of the Danish National Church, which had nominally about SOOO members, and left the scene of their thankless labours. Al- though Greenland, like the adjacent islands, is subject to the jurisdiction of the Vicar Apostolic of Copen- hagen, all missionary activity has been suspended.

H.\YES, The Lajid of Desolation: being a personal narraixve of advenlure in Greenland (London, 1871)— not very scientific, but instructive in its illustrations; Peary. Northward over the Great Ice (2 vols.. London, 1S9S): Loeffler, TheVinetand Excur- sions of the ancient Scandinavians (Copenhagen, 1884); HoRS- roRD, The Discovery of America by Northmen (Cambridge. 1888); Graah, Undersugelse Reise lit Ostkyslen af Gronland (Copenhagen, 1832, with coloured copper plates and three views of the church ruins of Kakortok): Rink, Grimland geogr. og. statist, beskrevet (with pictures, maps, and contributions of various scientists concerning its history and nature, 2 vols, with index, Copenhagen, 1855-57): Meddelelser om Gremland, udgii-ne af Commis. for Ledelsen af de geol. og fieogr. undersogelser i Grim- land — with many maps and illu>f i ;i i ii n- Tlie third section of the seventh part is of especi:il i ■. . ' in^Tihagen. 1879); HEi.MS.SydgronlandsSkove.Nni 1' A ■-; (Copenhagen,

1895); Amdrup, fixped. (iH O.^w. / ■ i "penhagen, 1902); Cornelius, Kristna Kyrkana histuna, ill (Stockholm, 1890); Cornelius, Det nittonde arhundraiess kyrkohistoria (2nd ed., Stockholm, 1891); Storm. Hist. top. skrifter om Norge og Nor.^ke Landsdele forfattede i Norge i det 16de Aarhundrede (Christiania, 1895); Dahlman and Schafer, Geschichle der curopdischen Staaten: Denmark (5 vols., Gotha, 1840-1902); Hergenrother, Handbuch d. allgem. Kirchengeschichte (3rd ed., 3 vols., Freiburg, 1884-6); Mayer in Kirchenlei.. s. v. Egede: Perger in Kirchenlei., s. v. Gronland; Realencyk. (Protestant) (Leipzig. 1896). s. v. Egede: Gams. Series ep. (Ratis- bcn, 1873); Eubel, Hierarchia catholica medii a-vi (Ratisbon, 1898); Schvlze. Al/riss einer Geschichte der Brudermission (Herrnhut. 1901); pEtiG^n, Bidrag til Hans Egedes og den grtm- landske Mis.-iions Historic 1721-SO (Copenhagen, 1879); Cronau. America. I (Leipzig, 1892); Forst, Geschichte der Entdeckung Gronland.^ (Worms. 1908), with bibliographical references in foot-notes; M.\urer, Die zweite deutsche Nordpolarfahrt in den Jahren 1869 u. 70 (Leipzig. 1874); Drygalski. Grimlandexpedi- lion der Gesellschafl fur Erdkunde zu Berlin. 1891-93 (Berlin, 1897). excellent geographical and scientific bibliography on pp. 374-80; Nordenskiold, Gronland und seine Eisu'usten im Innem u. seine Ostkusle (Leipzig. 1886); Nansen, Auf Schnees- chuhen durch Gronland (Hamburg, 1891); Solberg. Beitrdge zur Geschichte der Osieskimo (Christiania. 1907); Beauvois, Lo chretiente de Gronland au moyen 6ge in Rei'. des Quest. Hist.. I (Paris, 1902), 538-82.

Pius Wittman.

Gregoras Nicephorus. See Hesych.^sm.

Gregorian Chant. — The name Ls often taken as synonymous with plain chant (q. v.), comprising not only tlie Church music of the early Middle Ages, but also later compositions (elaborate melodies for the Ordinary of the Mass, sequences, etc.) written in a similar style down to the sixteenth century and even in modern times. In a stricter .sen.se (Jregorian chant means the Roman form of early plain chant as dis- tinguished from the Ambrosian, Gallican, and Mozar- abic chants, which were akin to it, but were gradually supplanted by it from the eighth to the eleventh century. Of the Gallican and Mozarabic chants only a few remains are extant, but they were probably closely related to the Ambrosian chant. Of the latter, which has maintained it.self in Milan up to the present day, there are two complete manu- scripts belonging to the thirteenth and fourteenth