Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/148

 HAKODATE

116

HAEON

^v. Car., 11,267 sqq.), in which he relates the spiritual experiences of Wettin, president of the monastic school of Reichenau. The day before his death (4 November, 824) Wettin saw in a vision bad and good spirits; an angel took him through hell, purgatory, and heaven, and showed him the torments of the sin- ners and the joys of the saints. The book, which bears some resemblance to Dante's " Divina Com- media", was soon afterwards put into verse by Wala- frid Strabo (Mon. Germ. Hist., loc. cit.). While Bishop of Basle, he issued a number of regulations in twenty- five chapters, known as the "Capitulare Haitonis" (P. L., CV, 763 sqq. ; Mon. Germ. Leg., Sect. II, Capitular. Reg. Franc, I, 363 sqq.; Mansi, XIV, 393 sqci.), in which he legislated on matters of diocesan discipline. The statutes were probably published in a synod.

Vautrey. Histoirp de^ I'veques fie Bale, I (Eifi-siedein. 1S.S41; Wattenb.\ch, Deulschlands Gmchichtsquellen (Berlin. 1904 >. 1; Hauck, Kirchengeschichte DeuLschlands (Leipzig. 1890), II; BuCHi in Kirchliches Handlexikon, I; Schrodl in Kirchenlex., V; WiEGAND in Realencyktopddie, VII.

Francis J. Schaefer.

Hakodate, Diocese of, situated between 13S° and 157° E. long., and between 37° and 52° N. lat., comprises the six northern provinces of the island of

Xippciii, flif i-I:iiid iif Yi'Z'), :iiid tbf Kurilc T-land~. as

AiNua, DescENUANTS of the PitiMirivB Inhabitants OF Japan

well as the administration of the southern part of the island of Saghalin, which still belongs to the Dioce.se of Mohilcv. It contains about 9,000,000 .lapanese in- habitants, 17,000 of whom arc .Vino aliorigines, the last representatives of the primitive population of the Japanese archipelago; they are confined to the Island of Yezo and the Kuriles. At the last census (15 Au- gust, 190S) the number of Catholics was 4427. The Vicariate Apostolic of Hakodate, created 17 April, 1891, was made a diocese on 15 .June of the same year. It was confided to the missionaries of the Soci(5t6 des Missions ferangeres of Paris, who in 1891 numbered twelve and resided at si.K stations in the territory designated above. The undersigned was the first bishop. The staff is at present composed of twenty- four missionaries of the .same society, one Japanese priest, and seventeen regulars. The residences number twenty. As auxiliaries the mission has three commu- nities of men and four of women: Trappists (1896), Friars Minor (1907), and Fathers of the Society of the Divine Word (1907); Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres (1891). the Reformed Cistercians (189S). the Sisters of Steyl (1908), and the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.

Christianity was widespread during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the only vestiges now- left of these earlier missions are a few religious objects, crosses, statuettes, medals, pictures, and images, secretly preserved in families or preserved in the treasuries of pagodas. The actual Catholics are ex- clusively neophytes, recruited for the most part before 1895, at which time it was still believed that Chris- tianity was the sole basis of true civilization. At present the in.struction of all classes is dominated by materialism, and pride of success blinds the Japanese intelligence; consequently conversions to Catholicism have become rare and difficult. Each year, however, yields its small harvest of baptisms. During 1908 there were baptized in this diocese 345 adults. The writer is persuaded that the Japanese will yet come in large numbers to the Catholic Church. There is yet manifest among them a strong love of truth, despite the deceptions of material civilization; to this we may add a growing respect and esteem for Cathol- icism, whose orderly hierarchy, unity of faith, purity of morals, and .self-sacrificing missionaries it admires. The apostolic spirit newly arou.sed in English-speak- ing countries is also a precious pledge of hope, for it foreshadows the irresistible union of all Catholic forces, hitherto widely scattered.

K.itli.ili^cheMissionen, 1S96, p. 142: 1903. 87; Compte rendu df la sorielc des missions Mrangires, 1905 (Paris. 1906). 23-31 : Dei.aporte. ha decouverie des anriens rhretiens au Japan in Etudes (1897). 577-603: LlGNEri- and Verret. L'Evanoile au Javon au XX' sircte (Paris, 1904): Joly. Le Christianisme el V Extreme-Orient, II: Missions ratholiqries du Jtipon (Paris, 1907): Batchelor. The Ainu of Japan (New York, 1892).

A. Berlioz.

Hakon the Good King of Norway, 935 (936) to 960 '.161), youngest child of King Harold Fair Hair an<l Chora Mosterstang. Harold, several years previous to the birth of H:ikon, had divided his realm among' his sons by former wives and, except fur a species of suzerainty over the whole, retained only the central portion of the country (Gidathingslagen) for himself. Hakon remained under liis mother's care, and devel- oped into a beautiful youth, in every respect like his father. But as his elder half-brothers showed but little love for him and even tried to compass his death, Harold determined to remove him out of harm's way and accordingly sent him to the court of his friend, King Athelstan of England, who lirought him up (hence his nickname Adelstenfostre) and gave him a splendid education. Hakon was destined never to see his father again, as the latter expired at the advanced age of eighty-three in 932 (or 933) at his residence at Hange, after a glorious reign of seventy years. His successor as ruler of the kingdom was Eric Blodoexe, who disarmed his brothers by craft and war, and earned the hatred of the people l)y his despotic temper. The disaffected nobles (.iarls) consequently turned to Hakon in the hope that he might take the reins of government into his hands and at the same time restore their old-time rights. The ambitious youth glailly agreed to their views. .\bove all Hakon won the support of Sigurd, the leader of the nobility, who had given proofs of a sin- cere attachment to "liim from the very beginning, by promising him increased power; moreover, he man- aged to gain the goodwill of the freedmen by his clemency and liberality. Eric soon found himself deserted on all sides, and saved his own and his family's lives by fleeing from the country. Hakon was now undisputed master of the nation, the unity of which seemed to be assured; of course the royal power was signally curtailed to the advantage of the people. Before he could feel secure on his throne, Hakon had to fight a dangerous war with the Danes. Having emerged victorious from this, he directed his efforts towards the improvement of domestic con- ditions as well as to the extension of his powjer abroad. Judiciously planned reforms in the admin-