The chronicle=news., 1913-02-08

fused Irom r"yolutionists and IRON
members OF III. secrei police in thin
desire to '"st his uprightnoss.
! SAN Juan. forto Rico, Feb. Sin
| order TO participate In the iOOth an.
adversary OF the creation OF the f'rs'
Catholic Diocese In the New Wnrir
and tn. sam" anniversary OF the ar
| rival OF the first Catholic bishop IN
tho Americas, Cardinal Farley. nj
/ New York. and Archbishop Blcnk. oi
/, New Orleans. who was formerly EIsh.
1p OF Porto Rico. are amovg the pre-
latcs from the United States who Will
/ come to Porto Rico for the church
celebration which Will he from Feb
rnary 20 To -.
! Together with Bishop Norris. OF
Little Rock. Ark. and nishop Gum.
Of Nhtcf.fz. Miss. Cardinal Farley
aud Archbishop Ilcnk Will sail from
New York saturday. February L..
IN invitation has been cNi"gd.i 10
all Catholic bishops in III" tr!'sd
States to attend the anniversary ccrc-
MONIES. The last day OF tn ami
Iycrsary there will he pub,is dem
onsiration In connection with the
irhird Insuiar Fair
The Dioccs. OF Porto Rico - the
oldest Catholic Diocese In til. Nmeri-
cas- ard was erected by Pope Julius
IN. In 1911. Bishop Alfonso Manso.
III. first bishor to reach The New
World discovered by Col inbds.
reached Porto Rico In l5i3. Nc lied
In 1899 and bis body was rurich In
III" cathedral In San Juan. where IN.
remains Of. many Of the fi'iy bishops
of til" diocese have b-an Icpos!'cd
This cathedral marks The SIZE 1f the
mother church In III" tm"ri'is. and
Will. much of II. pr"srut .uildIlS
IL modern. parts Of II ..a;, hack 4.
early In 1909.
Cardinal Farley VIII oiiiSi.,ir ~,
til. first OF the annivciEs- services.
u solemn high mass TO be eel 'bra."d
sunday morning. Fchruiry 20. tt.
following day. Moaily. Ai,ihisi "p
Bicnk will officiatc 1t spcc,l s"--
Vice. when the rcm,ias nj Pons. de
Leon. tn. first Govcrnar al POI to
Rico. who, died In his aasgt for y q
fountain II youth. will h. placed in u
lcrpt In an elaborate monu,ueE; nr,rt-
cd In the cathedral.
Many churchmcn from other coun-
irics ar. to participate In the ami
v"rsay ceremonies. including Card!n-
al Nlmar"z. OF Seville. spain. who
was elevate to the cardinnlatc with
Cardinal Farley. u little more than
4 ycnr ago. Bishop Estrada. of Ha-
vann. Cuba: Archbishop Bernada. OF
Santiago. Cuba: Bishop Ruiz. Of PIN
ar del Rio. and Bishop Aurclio. Of
Cin'u"Eos. CUBA.
| Archbishop Adoifo Noucl. of SAN
to Domingo. who recently was chos-
On president OF the country. has sent
word TO Bishop Jorcs. OF Porto leo.
that his duties as president viii pre-
vent him from coming To san Juan.
Through one OF his priests President
Noucl. who st!ll remains head OF the
church in Santo Domingo. he has adj
,VIs.h Bishop Jones thar II he left Do.
mlnlcan soil for eight days there
would he another revolutionary out
break.
None OF the dioccses In the United
States can compare IN age with the
Diocese OF Porto Rico. While st.
Augustine. Fla, was an established
commurity and had church In
1865. yet IL did not become u do
ccsc until 1870. The first diocese
lin the United States was that OF Bal
timcrc, which was created In 1883.
J New Orleans became the next dioc"s"
lin 1899, while New York, Boston ana
Philadelphia were created rs sc"s In
IlSoS. and are the next oldest.
With the coming OF this annivcr-
lqary celebration many rr"siing
bits of church history have been dug
lup from old records.
/ As far back as 1873 the high cost
'of living seems to have been u PROB;
lem that the first bishop in the
Americas rcckoncd with. for old roc
lordg show that he ordccd prepared I,
report "on the sin OF usury and Of
buying and selling at tnordinntc
prices" Al the same time. records
show that "Bishop Manso command
ed that u decree he read in the ca
lthcdral In San JuancXhOrting usur-
lcrs to go to confession within GER
,,ain pcriod OF time. that they migh'
receive fro mthc Bishop or his Vicar
Provisor salutary medicine for their
spiritual malady. should any be re-
bcllious, he must be reported.
And only a little later the church
records show that there was SUGAR
tariff, that Bishop Rodrigo Bastidas,
who succeeded bishop Manso'
thought needed revising so badly
THAT he wrote to the Spanish crown,
saying:
THE new impost upon sugar VIII
Icause depression in business. which
lis already suffering. Let the impos'
, be suppressed This was in 1874.
In the anne letter to the Spanish
, sovereign Bishop lIastidas wrote:
at would be convenient to estab.
llish in this bishopric school oi
grammar"
He reported other affairs in Por'
to Rico to the Crown indicating a
finaAcial depression about that per-
, iiod. lie wrote:
Work on the cathedral has been
!. suspended owing to the scarcity o,
furds and we beg YOU to give an
aims.