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Rh compel discovery of a secret trust for superstitious uses. Since 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 115 gifts for the propagation of the Roman Catholic faith are not void as made to superstitious uses. It should be noticed that the doctrine of superstitious uses is not confined to the Roman Catholic religion, though the question has generally arisen in the case of gifts made by persons of that religion. The Roman Catholic Charities Act 1860 enables the court to separate a lawful charitable trust from any part of the estate subject to any trust or provision deemed to be superstitious. It also provides that in the absence of any written document the usage of twenty years is to be conclusive evidence of the application of charitable trusts.

(5) Patronage.—A Roman Catholic cannot present to a benefice, prebend, or other ecclesiastical living, or collate or nominate to any free school, hospital or donative (3 Jac. I. c. 5). Such patronage is by the act vested in the universities, Oxford taking the City of London and twenty-five counties in England and Wales, mostly south of the Trent, Cambridge the remaining twenty-seven. The principle is affirmed in subsequent acts (1 Will. and Mary, sess. 1, c. 26; 12 Anne, st. 2, c. 14; 11 Geo. II. c. 17). If the right of presentation to an ecclesiastical benefice belongs to any office under the crown, and that office is held by a Roman Catholic, the archbishop of Canterbury exercises the right for the time being (10 Geo. IV. c. 7, s. 17). No Roman Catholic may advise the crown as to the exercise of its ecclesiastical patronage (Ibid. s. 18). A Roman Catholic, if a member of a lay corporation, cannot vote in any ecclesiastical appointment (Ibid. s. 15). Grants and devises of advowsons, &c., by Roman Catholics are void, unless for valuable consideration to a Protestant purchaser (11 Geo. II. c. 17, s. 5). Where a quare impedit is pending before any court, the court may compel the patron to take an oath that there is no secret trust for the benefit of a Roman Catholic.
 * (J. W.)

The history of Roman Catholicism in the New World begins with the Norse discoveries of Greenland and Vinland the Good. In the former the bishopric of Gardar was established in 1112, and extinguished only in 1492. To the latter (the coast of New England), the Northmen during the same period made “temporary visits for timber and peltries, or missionary voyages to evangelize for a season the natives.” Beyond these facts, the Norse sagas and chronicles contribute little that is certain (cf. “The Norse Hierarchy in the United States,” Amer. Cath. Quart. Review, April 1890). Although a bishop was appointed by the pope for the vaguely defined territory of Florida so early as 1528, the oldest Catholic community in what is now the United States dates from 1565, when the Spanish colony of St Augustine was founded. Hence the aboriginal tribes of the South were evangelized. In 1582 the missions of New Mexico were undertaken, and from 1601 Catholic missionaries were at work along the Pacific coast, especially in California. Early in the 17th century trading posts and mission centres were established on the coast of Maine, and during the same century French priests laboured zealously in northern New York, along the entire coast of the Mississippi from Wisconsin to Louisiana, and around the Great Lakes. Their principal concern was for the savages, over whom they acquired an extraordinary influence. Political jealousies, human avarice and treachery arrested the progress of most of their missions.

The English colony of Maryland, planned by the Catholic George Calvert (1st Lord Baltimore), and founded (1634) by his son the Catholic Cecilius Calvert (2nd Lord Baltimore), and Pennsylvania, founded (1681) by the tolerant Quaker William Penn, first permitted the legal existence of Catholicism in English-speaking communities of the New World. It is from these centres that it spread during the 18th century. In 1784 the Rev. John Carroll was appointed prefect-apostolic for the Catholics of the English colonies hitherto dependent on the vicar-apostolic of London. In 1790 Father Carroll was made bishop of the see of Baltimore, and given charge of all the Catholic interests in the United States. There were then about 24,500 Catholics in the land, of which number 15,800 were in Maryland, and 7000 in Pennsylvania, 200 in Virginia and 1500 in New York. In 1807 they had grown to 150,000 with 80 churches. In the following year Baltimore found itself the first metropolitan see of the United States, with New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Bardstown as suffragans.

The growth of the Catholic population by decades since 1820

was calculated by a competent historian, the late John Gilmary Shea, as follows:—

The number in 1906 was 12,079,142 (U.S. Census, Special Report, 1910). The main source of this growth has been immigration. Originally the Irish and the Germans furnished the greater quota. Later the French-Canadians, Italians, Poles and Bohemians added notably to the number; an appreciable percentage of Oriental Catholics is also found,—Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, &c. Natural increase, especially among the first Catholic immigrants, and a certain percentage of conversions from Protestantism, are contributory sources. Being under the protection of the constitution, and enjoying the advantages of the common law, Catholicism could not meet with any official opposition; such few outbursts of fanaticism as there have been were but temporary or local, and did not represent the true feelings of the country. As to the future of the Church in the United States, all Catholics feel, with their latest historian, that “the Catholic Church is in accord with Christ's revelation, with American liberty, and is the strongest power for the preservation of the Republic from the new social dangers that threaten the United States as well as the whole civilized world. She has not grown, she cannot grow so weak and old that she may not maintain what she has produced—Christian civilization.”

Internally, Catholicism in the United States has been free from any noteworthy schisms or heresies that might impede its development—its doctrinal history offers nothing of importance. The discipline differs little from that of the other churches of Catholicism. The unity of doctrine, liturgy and moral ideals is preserved by an intimate union with the see of Rome. The general canonical legislation of the Church, the legislation by papal rescript and the Congregation of the Propaganda, the decisions of the Apostolic Delegation at Washington, and a certain amount of immemorial custom and practice, form the code that governs its domestic relations. Decennially each bishop of the United States is expected to pay a visit to Rome (Ad Limina Apostolorum), and to make a report of the spiritual condition of religion within his diocese. In addition a system of synods provides for local unity among bishops, priests and laity. Thus each province or body of bishops under a metropolitan holds provincial councils, while at greater intervals a plenary or national council is held. Of these last three have taken place—their decrees, when approved at Rome, are binding on all Catholics in the United States.

In education the Catholic Church endeavours to keep abreast with the best. There are, according to Hoffmann's Directory (Milwaukee, 1907), 4364 parochial schools, in which 1,096,842 children of both sexes receive instruction. The total number of children in Catholic institutions is given as 1,266,175. There are 198 colleges for boys and 678 academies for girls. This system of education is crowned by the Catholic University of America at Washington, established by Leo XIII. and the American hierarchy, and endowed with all the privileges of the old pontifical universities of Europe. In addition there are several other schools that rank as universities. The education of the clergy is provided for by 86 seminaries, in which there are 5697 students. The charitable institutions in the Church are very numerous. There are 255 orphan asylums, with 40,588 inmates. The other charitable institutions are 992 in number, and include every form of public and private charity; no diocese is without one or more such establishments. The actual government of the Church in the United States is represented by one cardinal, 14 archbishops, 89 bishops, 11,135 diocesan clergymen, under the sole and immediate direction of their bishops, 3958 members of religious orders subject to episcopal supervision—in all 15,093 clergymen. There are 8072 churches with resident priests, and 4076 mission churches—in all 12,148, to which must be added 3358 Chapels. Several hundred weekly publications are printed in English and foreign tongues, to minister to the needs of the Catholic population. There exist also several literary and academical magazines and reviews of a high order of merit.

The principal religious events in the recent history of the Church were the holding of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884),