The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-10-16
CATHOLIC REVIVAL AMONG SLo-
vENEs AN IMPORTANT RE-
LleIoUs DEVELOPMENT JuGo-
SLAvIA HAS LARGEST cATHo-
Lie POPULATION OF ANY EAST
ERN EUROPE sTATE-WILL BE
FACTOR IN TRIUMPH OF CATH.
oLIc IDEALS.
IN. C. w. c. News Service)

IN. c. w. c. News service)
Following the great war, the king
dom of Serbia, or rather, Jugoslayia,
| has acquired "a larger Catholic popu-
| lation than any other Eastern state,
writes Rev. F.. A. Pa1mieri, 0. S. A.
| The number of Catholics in Croatia,
| Slovenia, Dalmatia, Bosnia-Herzego-
VIVA, and Serbia exceeds six millions.
| Belgrade, before the war, had a popu-
lation of $4,000 Catholics, who were
deprived of church because of the
| intolerance of the Serbian government,
| and could attend Mass only in the
| chapel of the Austrian legation.
The considerable increase of Cath
olics in the ancient kingdom of Serbia
has exerted some influence upon Ser
| bian diplomacy. The older fanaticism
has begun to vanish. On June "a,
1914, the Serbian Concordat was
signed in Rome by Cardinal Merry del
Val, and the Serbian delegate Milenko
r., Vesnic. It's general tenor is favor
able to religious freedom and the de-
velopment of the Catholic subjects of
the King of Serbia, although in the
Serbian Constitution, Orthodoxy was
qualified as the state religion, and
conversions to the Catholic were Sc
verely forbidden. Owing to the Con-
cordat, the banner of the Catholic
Srh ho n
that of the Orthodox Church. Catholi-
cism has her independence, and is no
instrument of human politics. Ortho-
doxy, in full compliance with the ira
ditions of religious Byzantinism, is a
state institution. Last year the Min
lister of Worship in a session of the
Serbian National Assembly (Skup-
cina), declared that the civil power
must exercise authority over the
church. The Vesnik Can Orthodox
paper, n. %, 1919 criticized this state
ment with acerbity, and pointed out
that from this point of view, the Or
thodox church would be placed on a
footing of inferiority beside Catholi-
cism
Faith Deep-rooted in Slovenes.
The strongest Catholic element in
Jugoslavia is represented by the Slo-
venes (1,500,000 in NUMBER. They
are not so numerous as the Croats,
but the Catholic faith is rooted more
deeply in their land than. in Croatia.
The war has weakened in Slovenia as
elsewhere, the simplicity and purity of
the race, which is chiefly composed OF
peasants. 1t has stimulated immoral
ity. But the. influence of the clergy
is still strong. BY renewed efforts
they will re-establish the practice of
the ancient Christian virtues.
Near the shores Of the Adriatic sea,
the Slovenes are scattered in little
towns and villages which belong to
the dioceses of Trieste and Gorilla.
The great bulk Of them (600,O00),
form the diocese of Ljubljana Uai-
bach), founded in 3S1 and re-estab-
lished in 1862 The bishop of the do
cese, Monsignor Anthony Bonaven-
ture Jeglic is venerated, even by the
Serbs, as valiant pioneer OF the
South Slavic political unity. Catholics
constitute large blocks in the diocese
of Lavant (Marburg), erected in 1928,
and in the diocese of Gurk (Klagen-
furt), founded in 1912. According to
plan of reorganization of the
churches in Serbia, Jugoslavia will be
divided into fifty dioceses, one-half
Catholic and one-half Orthodox. Prob
ably the bishopric of Ljubljana (Which
since 1880, has been placed under the
metropolitan jurisdiction of the Arch
bishop Of Gorizia), will be raised to
the dignity of an archiepiscopal see,
and it's bishop given the rank OF met-
ropolitan, for Slovenia will be consid-
cred a distinct clinical unit in Jugo-
-