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Rh centuries before. They had preserved certain prayers, the rite of baptism, and a few books. But if these Christian communities survived, the persecuting spirit survived also. In 1867-70, all those Christians—and they numbered over four thousand—who refused to forswear the faith, were torn from their native villages and distributed over various provinces of the empire, where they were kept as prisoners by the respective Daimyōs. After some years of exile, they were at length set at liberty in 1873. The Church of Japan, thus restored, is now slowly but surely developing, thanks to the toleration enjoyed under the Imperial Government.

The Church was governed from 1846 to 1877 by a single bishop, from 1877 to 1888 by two bishops, from 1888 to 1891 by three, and since 1891 by an archbishop (assisted by a bishop coadjutor) and three bishops, whose respective residences are at Tōkyō, Ōsaka, Nagasaki, and Sendai. The Catholic population of the empire amounted, in 1903, to 58,000 souls, as against 44,300 in 1891. They are grouped in some 360 stations or congregations, spread more or less all over the country, but most thickly in the island of Kyūshū. The clergy consists—besides the archbishop and bishops—of 129 European missionaries and 32 Japanese priests. The missionaries are all seculars belonging to the Societe des Missions Etrangères de Paris. There are also 70 European teachers, of whom 18 Cistercian friars devoted to agriculture in the island of Yezo, and 197 nuns (of whom 145 are European and 52 Japanese) engaged in teaching. The missionaries are assisted by 280 male catechists, besides 265 women employed as catechists and in nursing the sick. The Catholic educational establishments include three seminaries for native priests, where 60 students are now pursuing their course, and 58 other schools and orphanages, with an attendance of about 6,000 pupils. There exist furthermore two lepers' homes, where 147 lepers are cared for, and several small hospitals.