Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-02-10

a
with the third insular fair.
The diocese OF Porto Rico is the
Oldest Catholic diocese in the Ameri-
cas- and was erected by Pope Julius II.
in 1911. Bishop Alonzo Manso. the
first bishop TO reach the new world
discovered by Columbus. reached Por-
to Rico in 1913. He died in 1889 and
his body was buried In the cathedral
in San Juan, where the remains OF
many of the 80 bishops of the do
cese have been deposited. This cathe-
dral marks the site Of the mother
church in the Americas. and while
much of the present building is mod
ren. parts OF its date back early in
1900.
Cardinal Farley will officiate at the
first of the anniversary services, sol
emn high mass to be celebrated Sun
day morning, Feb %. The following
day. Monday, Archbishop B.enk will
ofticiate at a special service, when
the remains of Ponce de Leon, the
first governor of Porto Rico. who died
in his quest for the fountain of youth,
will be placed in a crypt in an elabor-
ate monument erected in the cathed-
| raj
Many churchmen from other coun-
tries are to participate in the ami
versary ceremonis, including Cardinal
Almarz OF Seville, Spain, who was ele-
waited TO the cardinalate with Cardi-
nal Farley a little more than a year
ago; Bishop Estrada of Havana, Cuba;
Archbishop Bermuda of Santiago,
Cuba; Bishop Ruiz of Pinar del Rio.
and Bishop Aurelio of Cienfuegos,
Cuba
Archbishop Adolfo Nouel of Santo
| Domingo, who recently was chosen
president of that country, has sent
word to Bishop Jones of Porto Rico,
that his duties as president will pre-
vent him from coming to San Juan
Through one Of his priests President
Nouel, who still remains head of the
church in Santo Domingo, he has ad
vised Bishop Jones that if he left
Dominican soil for eight days there
would be another revolution outbreak
None of the dioceses in the United
States can compare in age with the
diocese Of Porto Rico. While st
Augustine, Fla, was an established
community and had a church in 1565
yet IL dld not become a diocese unit
1871. The first diocese in the United
states was that of Baltimore. which
was created in 1889. New Orleans he
came the next diocese in 1893 Will.
New York, Boston and PhiIadelnbi.
was created as sees in 1903, and ar,
the next oldest.
win the coming of this anniversar,
: ceIeDratlon many interesting bit, -
? cnurch history have been dug I'M IRON
old records. 0p ''0Ai
AS far back as 1888 the HIGH oos
VI IIEins seems to have been a prob
lem mat the first bishop in the Anne,
lcas reckoned with. for old record
SHOWS that he ordered prepared q re
port on the sin of usury and Of buy
ing and selling at inordinate nrices
AL the same time, records show tba
Blshop Manso commanded that . dc
> cree be read in the cathedral IN Ga
Juan exhorting Insurers to go to cor
1ession within a certain period of time
Ihat they might receive from the bisr
op or his vlcar-provisor salutary med
; cine for their spiritual maladv ShouI
any be rebellious, he must he r,
t ported"
= And only a little later the churc
: records show that there was a suga
larin that Bishop Rodrigo Bastida!
who succeeded Bishop Manso. though
: needed revising SO badly that he wrot
I to the Spanish crown, saying:
The new impost upon sugar wi
/ cause depression in business. wbic
, is already suffering Let the impos
, be suppressed That was in 1874.
In the same letter to the SPANS
Z sovereign Bishop Bastidas wrote:
1t would be convenient to establis
, in this bishopric a school of gran
z mar"
II He reported other affairs in Port
u Rico to the crown indicating a final
d cial depression about that period. H
wrote:
d Work on the cathedral has bee
e suspended owing to the scarcity {
Il funds and we beg you to give sn aim
a The employees of the treasury a
Il tend, l believe, to their work wei
but there is so little to do that fol
u are too many and two would suffic
L viz: The treasurer and the audito
Il Il have inspected the Fortaleza an
3 MORO castle. They are good fort
3 but there Is need OF some artillery"
d The Fortaleza is the present res
dence Of the governor of Porto Ric
l. while MORO castle was one of the fort
L f1cations fired on by Admiral Sampsc
u in 1898. 1t still stands in an exec
lent state Of preservation.
! Records recently found give the
/, cation of many old crypts under Il
:, cathedral IL San Juan. One OF the
SC proved to be The burial place of Bish,
70 de Soils, VINO died III 1871. OF I'll
bishop the records saw thai ne or te