The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-01
CHURCHES IN ROME.
There are 352 of Them and Nearly 1000 Chapels in Institutions
 and Homes.

and Homes.
 Letter from Rome, Italy. to Chicago Rec ord-Herald.
 The guide books are responsible for the
 popular impression that there are 365 churches in Rome, one for every day in the year. The exact number. according to the recent census is 352, including the four great basilcas outside the walls. Besides these there are about 91S chapels connected with monasteries, nunneries. schools, and private palaces. and large | number of shrines erected by individuals in different parts of the city to fulfill VOWS of show gratitude for deliverence from peril of sickness. There are sixty tight monastic establishments. forty-two for monks and twenty-siX for nuns. The number of inmates varies from time to time with the season, and averages about 4,0G0
 Before the establishment of the civil au- thority in 1870 there were 2.3S2 monastic es- tSblishments in Italy, of which 1,5Q6 were for men and S16 were for women. The
 number of monks was 14S07. and the
 nuns 14.1S4. of whom S.220 belonged to what are known as the mendicant or | ders. and were supported by aims or vol untary contributions. Many of these in | stitutions were supported by the civil authorities and the property was con- | fiscated. Several were temporarily set l aside for such monks friars or nuns as | had reached great age and they were | allowed to occupy them until their death. | Two such institutions still remain in Rome, with a few inmates who arc very old.
 The confiscated church property was | sold or appropriated by the Government and the proceeds were invested in a fund | which amounts to several millions of dol | From the ,I clergy are paid throughout the entire l country, what are known as the secular I clergy, the ordinary parish priests. re- | ceying 3000 lire tS60M a year and less l In some of the parishes the priests do not
 receive more than 500 n year They are | allowed to charge fees for baptisms. mar | rages, burials. and other ecclesiastical | services. No rates are fixed; they are l dependent upon the means and generosity
 of the parshioners. But the compensa-
 ton of the average parish priest in Italy | is very small.
 | Of the 352 churches in Rome 52 are in
 cluded in the list supported by the Gov
 ernment. there being ffty-two parishes ir | the city 23 being administered by the se- l cular clergy or ordinary parish priests
 and 2S hy the regular clergy or members | of the monastic orders. Of the 3B l churches remaining. ? are attached tC l ScmlnafleS TOT lne tuuNdllbH bl ptitSlS
 6S are in charge of different monastic or i ders and are supported by foundations
 24 are known as national churches and
 were originally attached to hospices for foreign pilgrims. They are still support l ed by contributions from Catholics in l different foreign countries. Even the l Abyssinians the Armenians, and the Bre- | tons have church 7s as well as the Cath
 olics of France. Germany, Englanl and | Spain. Besides these each cardinal has what is known as a titular church and parish, over which he exercises patrarChal juris- dCtion The church of Cardinal Gibbons is St. Maria in TrasteVere. and his vicar
 is Mgr. Dennis O'Conneli, originally from Richmond Va, and for several years rec
 tor of the American College in Rome, pr. O'Connell is the best beloved man in the American colony Jews and Gantiles, Catholics and Protestants, all respect and
 admire him, He is a welcome and a ire
 quent guest among the permanent Ameri-
 can residents of Rome, d man of broad
 understanding. great learning. gentle dis
 position, and q keen sense of humor. and
 beyond that a true C"tholic and a 2 uu-
 inc, sterling American