The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-02-22
Further still, the apostolic spirit has
striven apace. many Dutch priests be
ing now labOring in ENGLAND. If

Further STILL, the apostolic spirit has
striven apace. many Dutch priests be-
ing now laboring in England.
| The growth. +, and prosperity of the
| Church in Great Britain presents many
! remarkable features. In the year 1900
| England and Scotland had but 100000
apostolic. They were undoubtedly desti-
! Catholics, with 65 priests and six wears
tute Of public chapels, schools and insti-
tutions. Today the country wears q diff
ferent aspect, with its cardinal bishop, its
| two archbishops, 1S bishops and 5000
priests to look after the spiritual welfare
| of more than 100000 Catholics. The
material advances in churches, colleges,
schools and institutions of Different kinds
! nave more than kept pace with the n,l-
| merical increase The Church has re-
| ceived converts from all classes of soc:-
ETY.. though the cultured portion of the
| community has furnished more than it's
| proportionate quota.
| In Turkey Rome has made considerable
| advances. Had it not been for the ind.f-
ference of france and the opposition of
| Russia in 1856, 6.00o, 900 Bulgarans might
have been added to the Catholic church.
| Corporate reunion will doubtless come
| about soon, but in the meantime the II
Ieorganized dioceses of the Balkans show
an increase from 250.750 to 649, ,785 Cath
olics-and this i'm the face of the ill-con-
cealed hostility of the Russian agents.
In Asia Minor the different churches of
the INMATE rite have shown signs Of new
| l.fe. In Palestine the Catholics have in
creased ten-fold. The Melchite Greeks
have abandoned schisnl and entered the
bosom of the Mother Church, since when
they have increased from 10000 to 114,-
600. The total increase Of the Catholic
Uniates has been from AO1 900 to 657. .6S9.
The progress Of the Church in the New
World during the ,ast century has been
very brilliant, both in point of numbers
and organization. In 1900 the combined
missions OF the United States and Cam
ada hardly numbered 100000 Catholics.
Today in Canada alone there are 2, 100 900
faithful, with 2,400 priests and twenty
five bishops, and a proportionate growth
OF churches, schools, and institutions.
Hitherto no exhaustive census has been
made OF the Catholics in the United
States, but moderate and mnemonic
estimate may be found in these figures:
Ninety prelates, 5000 priests, and 9,OOo,-
900 people. The estimate OF the popula-
tion is undoubtedly low, some aurhori~
ties allowing as many as $4,000, 900 Cath
olics to the states.
The proposition of the Church in Amer
lea is fairly satisfactory in point of num-
bers Some quarter Of million of In
dians have been received into the Church
In the Protestant Antilles and i'll the two
Guinas. Catholics have trebled in the
last eighty years.
But the noblest successes of the Apos-
tolic Church in the present century have
been made in Asia, Africa and Oceanicia.
The missionaries who went to India in
1880 found little more than the ruins of
Catholicity. The total number of the
faithful was about 475,000. under the
charge of some 400 native and twenty
Europ an spnie; Z Il. At the close oof the
century the Catholic Church in India
claims tWentysix resident bishops, 1,400
native and s45 missionary priests, about
5000 members OF religious orders, and
population OF 100000 souls.
In modern times AMMAN has taken the
place OF Japan as the nursery Of martyrs.
The persecution, which had been sus-
the death Of Gia Ling The Cochin Chi
ma expedition in 1858 and the war which
followed served to intensity it's horrors
it is estimated that during the nineteen
years alone, between 1S43 and 1862. it
cost the lives Of three Wears apostolic
119 priests, over 100 religious, the greater
part Of the catechists, and a least IS, 900
Christians When the storm had passed
the 100000 faithful were scattered and
all their churches schools and religious
houses in ruins. After a few years of
comparative tranquility another out
burst OF persecution began in 1885 in the
two yicariates OF Cochin China, in which
fifty priests, hundreds CT religious, and
$4,000 Christians perished. All this in
the second half of the nineteenth centu-
ry! 1t will be some time before the
young Annamite church can recover
from such disa asters, but, in spite Of the
deluge Of Christian blood and the feroc~
ity OF heather persecution, the Annamite
missions, which in 1900 counted $4,000
Catholics, divided into three yicariates,
have today nine vjcariates, 573 priests,
and a population of 629,300 Catholics.
At the end OF the last century there
were in China five Catholic missionaries,
With q population of 100000. Today the
church counts tnirty-eight bishops, 1905
priests (of whom about third are ma
tives), and following Of 76,43o. AS re-
Gently as 1860 Japan presented an appa-
ling spectacle of des5lation. The church
that had given God 100000 martyrs was
absolutely blotted out Catholicity was
represented by one prefeot and one vicar
apostolic without church. clergy or peo-
pie The hierarchy was established by
Leo XIII. in 1890, and there were then in
the country four bishops, ninety-seven
priests (of whom fifteen were Japanese),
and 44.5O5 Catholic souls. The opening
Of the century saw only 5000 Catholics in
COrea. under the care Of one Chinese
priest Persecution has ragged fiercely
here, as in AMMAN, and three bishops,
nine missionaries and thousands of the
faithful have given testimony to the
faith by their blood. The church claims
10000 in Corea today, and the late crisis
in politics is likely to prove of immense
service to the growth Of Cathclicity. ALL
rica. too, has given a rich harvest to the
church during the present century.
In the South the Beers kept the coun-
Try closed against Catholic missionaries
until 1858. Since then nissionar ries
have ilourished at the Cape, Natal. the |
Orange Free State, and the .1'ra1syaal. |
In these states there are now 100 mis- |
ssionaries, with $4,000 Catholics. and
there is good reason to hope that the
tribe of Basutos. nun mbering 180. 900 souls,
will shortly enter the church in a body. |
The great island OF Madagascar, after