ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



725 



ar;:l generous in the extreme, yet wholly with- 

 out ostentation. In a single year his books re- 

 port contributions of $17,000 to the support of 

 the wives of soldiers enlisted in the district, be- 

 sides innumerable gifts in smaller amounts to 

 individuals. He also gave $12,000 toward the 

 equipment of a regiment. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. It is esti- 

 mated by intelligent and judicious investigators 

 that there are on an average two thousand 

 Roman Catholics to each priest in the United 

 States. On this calculation there were, in 1860, 

 4,400,000 Catholics in the United States. The 

 increase has for many years been much more 

 rapid than the increase of the nation. It ap- 

 pears that in 1808 there was only one Catholic 

 to sixty-eight Protestants ; in 1830, one to 

 twenty-nine ; in 1840, one to eighteen ; in 

 1850, one to eleven ; in 1860, one to seven. 

 That is, the increase between 18-40 and 1860 

 was 125 upon each hundred, while the nation 

 only increased by thirty-six to a hundred ; 

 between 1850 and 1860 the increase was one 

 hundred and nine upon a hundred, while the 

 nation increased only thirty upon a hundred. 

 Should things go on only as they have hitherto 

 done, the Catholic will.be one-fifth of the whole 

 population in 1870, and nearly one-third before 

 1900. According to the " Catholic Almanac for 

 1865" the United States had, in 1864, 7 arch- 

 bishops, 37 bishops, 5 vicars apostolic, and 3 

 mitred abbots, and in those dioceses from 

 which reports were received, 2,330 priests. 



The completion of the new St. Paul's and 

 St. Peter's Cathedral in Philadelphia gives to 

 the Roman Catholics the largest church edifice 

 in the United States. The consecration was 

 celebrated, on Nov. 20, with the most imposing 

 effect. More than seven hundred priests parti- 

 cipated, and the ceremonies were witnessed by 

 about eight thousand people. Among those par- 

 ticipating were Archbishops Spaulding, of Bal- 

 timore, Purcell, of Cincinnati, and McCloskey, 

 of New York, the bishops of Boston, Buffalo, 

 Brooklyn, Burlington, Vt., Newark, Canada, 

 Fort Wayne, Ind., Hartford, Pittsburg, Toron- 

 to, Halifax, and the mitred abbot of St. Vincents 

 at Latrobe. The bishops proceeded from the 

 Episcopal residence in full vestments, with 

 mitre and surplice, through Logan Square, 

 followed by the priests, to the cathedral, the 

 choir chanting Te Deum. The usual ceremo- 

 nies were then proceeded with, Bishop Wood, 

 accompanied by the priests, sprinkling the 

 foundation and walls with holy water, etc. 

 After the customary forms on such occasions, 

 including the Pontifical mass, had been con- 

 cluded, Archbishop Spaulding, of Baltimore, 

 delivered an impressive sermon. The cathe- 

 dral is the work of eighteen years' labor, and 

 cost nearly $500,000. 



One of the most important events in the 

 modern history of the Roman Catholic Church, 

 is the Encyclical Letter, addressed, on Dec. 8, 

 1864, to all Catholic bishops. (See PUBLIC 

 DOCUMENTS.) 



TLis document, it appears, was drawn up 

 and di-cus-cd some time ago by a body of 

 learned ecclesiastics, and subsequently debated 

 at the Congregation of the Holy Office. The 

 condemned propositions were forwarded to tho 

 most erudite prelates of the Catholic Church 

 for their opinions, and when returned again 

 carefully gone over paragraph by paragraph 

 by the Pope and the cardinals. "The idea is 

 believed to have originated with Monsignore 

 Gerbet, the bishop of Perpignan, who for- 

 warded a letter to the Pope in 1860, contain- 

 ing the draught of the obnoxious propositions. 

 The bishop has not lived to see the completion 

 of his task. 



The Encyclical letter produced a profound 

 sensation throughout the civilized world. On 

 the part of the clergy it found a general adhe- 

 sion, yet some of them expressly made the 

 reservation that they did not consider them- 

 selves obliged by the encyclical to condemn 

 modern civilization. The Archbishop of Balti- 

 more, in a pastoral letter to his clergy, ex- 

 pressed a belief that the encyclical letter was 

 directed against the infidels of Europe, but did 

 not condemn the institutions of the United 

 States. The Archbishop of Paris issued a pas- 

 toral letter, in which he called upon the Pope 

 to give his blessing to modern civilization, after 

 having pointed out its errors. 



The concurrence of the college of cardinals 

 with the sentiments of the papal encyclical was 

 not quite so unanimous as that of the bishops. 

 Cardinal d' Andrea secretly left Rome, and pro- 

 ceeded to Naples, where he paid a visit to the 

 crown-prince Humbert, and declared himself in 

 favor of Italian unity. With regard to the 

 encyclical he openly admitted in a conversa- 

 tion with the correspondent of a daily paper of 

 Paris, "Le Temps," that he regretted its publi- 

 cation, and did not subscribe to all its senti- 

 ments. It was stated (by Catholic as well as 

 Protestant papers) that six other members of 

 the sacred college agreed, in the main, with 

 Cardinal d' Andrea. 



The Catholic press of the world showed an 

 entire unanimity in a respectful acceptance 

 of the encyclical. No avowedly Catholic paper 

 of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, 

 Austria, Bavaria, or any other Catholic or 

 Protestant country is known to have uttered 

 a word of dissen t. Some papers, which had pre- 

 viously advocated a reconciliation between the 

 Church and modern society, qualified their 

 adhesion by the reservation, that they accept- 

 ed the encj clical in the sense of those bishops 

 who did not find in it a condemnation of mod- 

 ern civilization. 



None of the great Protestant countries of the 

 world the United States, England, Prussia, 

 Holland, Sweden, Denmark put any obstacles 

 in the way of the publication of the encyclical. 

 Most of the Catholic Governments of Europe 

 were for a tune seriously embarrassed with 

 regard to it. The Government of Franco 

 concluded to allow only the ofncial proc- 



