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 MABONI

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MAB0NITS8

The work is taken up almost completely with biog^- phies of illustrious men of the order, the title b^g thus somewhat misleading. It is of great historical value, especially since the original sources to which the author Imd access, have entu:ely disappeared. It is worth recording that to Mark of Lisoon we are in- debted for the first edition of a granunar of the Bicol language in the Philippine Islands.

Wadding, Saiptorea Ordinia Minomm (Rome, 1007). 167; Robinson, A Short IrUroduction to Franciacan Literature (New York, 1907), 17, 42; Le Monnier, Hidory of St. Francis (Lon- don, 1894), 17-18.

Stephen M. Donovan.

Maroniy Paul, missionaxy, b. 1 Nov., 1695. He entered the Austrian province of the Jesuits on 27 Oct., 1712, and, like many German and Austrian mis- sionaries of that time, went in 1723 on the mission in XIpper Maranon that belonged to the Quito province of^tne order. He worked for several years as professor of theolo^ at Quito and then with great success as Indian missionary on the rivers Napo and Aguarico, converting a number of tribes to the Christian faith and founding a series of new reduci6nes (i. e. settle- ments of converted Indians). At the same time he did great service in carefully exploring those regions, serv- ices which were duly acknowledged by the French geographer. La Condamine, (see "Journal des Sa- vants', Paris, March, 1750, 183). Maroni left be- hind him a number of valuable works which have only recently been published. Two of them are: "Diario de la entrada que hizo el P. Pablo Maroni de la C. d. J.

Eorelriocorifio6 Pastaza ... el aflo 1737", published y P. Sanvicente, S. J. in "El Industriar' (Quito, 1895), ano IV., num. 132, 133, 135; as also the "No- ticias aut^nticas del famoso rio Marafion y misi6n ap6stolica de la Compania de Jestis de la provincia de Quito en los dilatados bosques de dicho no escribilas por los afios de 1738 un misionero de la misma com- paixia y las publicas ahora por primera vez Marcos Jimenez de la Espada (Madrid, 1889)", with maps dmwn up by Maroni.

Neuer WeU-Bott, No. 210, 282, 333, 565; Chantbet-Hersra. Hist, de las Misionea de la Compafiia deJ.end MaraH&n Eapatioi (Madrid, 1901).

A. HUONDER.

Maronia, a titular see in the province of Rhodopis, suffragan of Trajanopolis. The town is an ancient one, said to have been foimded by Blaron, who was supposed to be the son of Dionysus (Euripides, "(^clops", V, 100, 141) or companion of Osiris (Diodorus SiciUus, I, 20). The probable origin of this legend is the fact that Bilaronia was not^ for its Dionysiac worship, perhaps because of the famous wine grown in the neighbourhood and whi.ch was cele- brated even in Homer's day (Odyssey, IX, 196; Non- nus, I, 12; XVII, 6; XIX, 11 etc.). It is mentioned in Herodotus (VII, 109), and referred to by Pliny under the name Ortagurea (Hist. Nat., IV, 11). The town derived some of its importance from its com- manding position on the Thracian Sea, and from the colony from Chios which settled there about 660 b. c. It was taken by Philip V, King of Macedonia (200 B. c), but straightway set free at the command of the Romans (Livy, XXXI, 16; XXXIX, 24; Polybius, XXII, 6, 13; 5CXIII, 11, 13). By the Romans it was given to Attains, King of Pergamos, but the gift was revoked and the town retained its freedom (Polybius, XXX, 3). Lequien (Oricns Christ., I, 1195-1198) mentions many of its Greek bishops, but none of them was remarkable in any way. Eubel (Hierarchia Ca- tholica medii sevi, 1, 341; II, 205) mentions two titular Latin bishops in 1317 and 1449. Originally suffragan of TrajanopNolis, Maronia, about 640, became an aiSio- cephalous archdiocese, and was raised to metropoli- tan rank in the thirteenth century under Andronicus II. In our own times, Maronia continues to be a Qieek metropolitan see, but its titular resides at

Gumuldjina, the chief town of the sandiak. The ancient town on the sea coast has been aoandoned, and the name is now given to a village of 2000 inhabi- tants about three-quarters of an hour inland.

Bulletin de correspondance hellSniqu^ (Paris), V, 87-95; Christododlou. La Thrace et Quarante-Eglises, 1897 [this work is written in Greek]; Meurrhttos, Historical and geographi- cal description of the Diocese of Maronia [in Greek], 1871.

S. Vailhe.

Manmites. — ^This article will give first the present state of the Maronite nation and Church; after which their history will be studied, with a special examina- tion of the much discussed problem of the origin of the Church and the nation and their unvarying ortho- doxy.

I. Present State of the Maronites. — A. Ethno-' graphical and Political. — ^The Maronites (Syriac Mar^ undue; Arabic Matvarinah) number about 300,000 souLs, distributed in Syria. Palestine, Cyprus, and Egypt. Of this number about 230,000 mhabit the Lebanon^ forming nearly five-eighths of the population of that vilayet and the main constituent oi the popu- lation in four out of seven kaimakats, viz., those of Batrun, Kasrawan, Meten, and Gizzin (the Orthodox Greeks predominating in Koura, the Catholic Greeks in Tahl6, and the Druses in ShM ). They are of Syrian race, but for many centuries have spoken only Arabic, thou^ in a dialect which must have retained many Syriac peculiarities. In the mountain districts man- ners are very simple, and the Maronites are occupied with tillage and cattle-grazing, or the silk industry; in the towns they are engaged in commerce. Bloodv vendettas, due to family and clan rivalries, are still kept up in the mountam districts. The population increases very rapidly, and numbers of Maronites emi- grate to the different provinces of the Ottoman Em- pire, to Europe, particularly France, to the French colonies, but most of all to the United States. The emigrants return with their fortunes made, and too often bring with them a taste for luxury and pleasiue, sometimes also a decided indifference to religion which in some instances, degenerates into hostility.

For many centuries the Maronite mountaineers have been able to keep themselves half independent of the Ottoman Empire. At the opening oi the nine- teenth century their organization was entirely feudal. The aristocratic families — who, especiaUy when they travelled in Europe, affected princely rank — elected the emir. The power of the Maronite emir prepon- derated in the Lebanon, especially when the Syrian family of Beni Shib&b forsook Islam for Christianity. The famous emir Beshir, ostensibly a Mussulman, was really a Maronite; but after his fall the condition of the Maronites changed for the worse. A merciless strug- gle against the Druses, commencing in 1845, devas- tated the whole Lebanon. Two emirs were then created, a Maronite and a Druse, both bearing the title of Kaimakam, and they were held responsible to the Pasha of Saida. In 1860 the Druses, impelled by far naticism, massacred a large number of Maronites at Damascus and in the Lebanon. As the Turkish Gov- ernment looked on supinely at this process of exteiw mination. France intervened: an expedition led by General ae Beaufort d'Hautpoult restored order. In 1861 the present system, witn a single governor for all the Lebanon, was inaugurated. This governor is ap- pointed by the Turkish Government for five years. There are no more feudal rights; all are equal before the law, without distinction of race; each nation has its sheik, or mayor, who takes cognizance of com- munal affairs, and is a judge in the provincial council. Every Maronite between the ages of fifteen and sixtv pays taxes, with the exception of the clergy, though contributions are levied on monastic property. In contrast to the rule among the other rites, the Maron- ite patriarch is not obliged to solicit his firman of in- vestiture from the sultan; but, on the other hand, ha