Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/672

* MISSIONS. 600 MISSIONS. has had a house for foiiijjn missions at Stcyl since 1875. with about 120 missionaries. At Mill Hill, in England, the English Catholics support a seminary for missions among the blacks. The College of All Hallows at Dublin draws its mis- sionaries from Ireland ; many of them come to the United States and merge into the American clergy; Ireland makes provision also fin- a few missions in Africa and India. The Calliulios of the United States have supported in part the missions for Inilians and negroes by an annual collection since ISS4. H readies yearly a figure of sixty to seventy tliousand dollars. As to the civil relations of the Catholic missions in the Orient. France is still their official inter- mediary with tile local governments. This an- cient privilege, which begins to be contested by Germany and otlicr powers, is still in force, and is recognized by late acts of the Prefect of the Propaganda and the Holy Father. It was also recognized anew by the Chinese Emperor in March, 1890. Among the notable acts in the history of Oriental C*atholic missions is the es- tablishment by Leo XIIT. of a regular hierarchy in India (1880) and in .Japan (1891). The support of Catholic missions comes al- most entirely from private sources. The money salary of each missionary is a very inndest one. The Work of the Pro])iigation of the Faith at Lyons allots annually from one hundred to one hundred and twenty dollars to each missionary that it supports. Nearly all the money comes from small contributions, but through a well organized system of collection. In all, there are 32 'congregations' of men de- voted to the Catholic missions, with some 12.000 members, not to s])eak of native clergy and helpers. Aliout 5000 'Brothers' are engaged as teachers and catechists, mostly in the Orient; 44.000 'Sisters' are occupied with works of cli:ir- ity and teacliing. It is calculated that the wiiole army of Catholic missionaries, men and women, now reaches the figure of 00.000. and that few areas of heathendom remain unvisited by them. (3) Some Impoutaxt Evk.nts and Facts in THE History of ^Modkrn Roman Catholic Mis- sions. As a result of the loss of its East Indian possessions, the Crown of Portugal became in- volved, during the last century, in long and seri- ous conflict with the Holy See. F'rom 1834 to 1838 the latter cut off frcmi the original Portu- guese Arehdioeest- of Ooa four Vicariates Apos- tolic, that coincided with English territory. Though .absolutely just and necessary, this act of Gregory XA'. was resented bv Portugal. A schism followed which lasted more or less acutely and Clint iniiously until 1880. when peace was brought about by Leo XIII. <ioa was made a titular patriarchate with four sufl'ragans, namao. Arch- bishop also lid hiinorem of Crangaror. Cochin, Saint Thomas of Meliapiir, and Macao. Elsewhere in India, (lie former Vicariates .postolic of .gra, Bombay. Varapoli, Calcutta. Madras. Pondiehery, and Colombo (Ceylon) were raised to llie archi- episco|ial rank ami freed from all subjection to the ,rihliisliopric of Goa. During the whole nineteenth century the Cath- olic missions in Tongking and Annam sull'ered very frequently from pojiiilar uprisin;;s and gov- ernment persecution, until the establishment of the French civil protectorate in 1885-80. Until 1880 the Catholic missions in Korea were almost continuously the object of similar mal- treatment; nevertheless, they now number 36,- 000 Catholics in 28 districts; they have one bishop, 31 missionaries, and 554 chapels. In 1839 three French bishops were put to death as mart.vrs, and in 1800 nine bishops suffered the same fate. The modern Catholic missions in .Japan began tentativelv in 1832-58. An im])etiis was given bj' the discovery of a number of crypto-Catholics (1858-72), who had retained some souvenirs of the faith as preached to their ancestors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. With the gradual enlargement of religious liberty since 1872 the disestablishment (188G) of Shintoism and Buddliism, and the proclamation of a con- stitutional monarcliy (1889), the conditions liave been more favorable lor the Catholic missions. In 1891 Leo Xlll. cstalilislied a regular hierarchy in .Japan, with one archliishop at Tokio. The three suffragans are at Nagasaki, Osaka, and Hakodate. There were in 1899 112 missionaries, 26 native priests, and 284 lay catechists. The Catholic population is 53,872. The labors of the Catholic missionaries in Cliina during the last century were largely di- rected to gathering back into the Christian fold the families scattered liy tiie former ])ersccutions. The opium war. the Taiping rebellion, political manu'iivres. the weakness of tlic central author- it.v, and the native hatred of the Chinese for ■foreifjii devils' cau.sed the destruction of many promising Christian communities in spite of the treaties of 1844-45 and 1858-00. In 1898 there were in China, according to the almanac of the Propaganda (Missioiics C'atliolicw), 532.448 Catholics, with 39 bishops, 739 missionaries (.Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, Lazarists), and 373 native priests distributed over 40 missions. In Central Africa the most important event.s have been the labors of Fr. Lilicrmann and his society (t'lilhris of Die lloli/ (Ihost) since 1840. and the foundation of the Pin s ISInncs of Cardi- nal Lavigerie. The African missions have been hel|)cd lately by the formation of anti-slaverv societies. Among the most remarkable of Catlio- lic missionaries in Africa was F'ather Daniel Comboni. In Ethio]iia the central figure has been the late Cardinal Massaia. a venerable Capuchin, who devoted thirty years of his life to the work. In Frencli .Africa the See of Algiers was founded in 1838. and in 18(>7 became an archbishopric, with Constantine and Oran for suffragans. The French protectorate over Tunis (1881) brought with it, in 1884. the restoration of the famous ancient See of Carthage. Since 1885 the French protectorate over iLadagascar has affected somewhat favorably the Catholic missions among the Malagasies. In .South America there are nearl,v ten million Indians in the various Catholic missions, with some three million moie unconverted. The se])a. ration from Spain, the abolition, of slavery in Brazil (1888). the fienuent violent ex))ulsion of various religious Orders, the movement of im- migration from Europe, and the Palagonian mis- sions of the Salesian Fathers since 1875, have been among the principnl events that affected (lie missionary work. Throiishout the islands of Polynesia there are about 180.000 Catholics, with 13 bishops, 259 priests, and 419 churches or chapels.