ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 



773 



vincial Synods. (2) The Congregation of Bishops 

 and Regulars, for judging appeals against episco- 

 pal sentences, for the hearing of causes between 

 bishops and regulars, and for the revision and 

 approbation of rules of religious bodies. (3) The 

 Congregation of Propaganda, for the propagation 

 of the faith and the government of the church in 

 non-Catholic countries. Attached to this there is 

 a Congregation for Affairs of the Oriental Rite, with 

 a commission for the revision and correction of 

 Oriental books. (4) The Congregation of Sacred 

 Rites, for the decision of all questions relative to 

 the liturgy, rites, and ceremonies, and for the 

 conduct or the processes of the beatification and 

 canonisation of saints. (5) The Congregation of 

 the Index, for the condemnation of writings pre- 

 judicial to faith or morality. (6) The Congrega- 

 tion of the Holy Office, sometimes known as the 

 Congregation or the Inquisition, for the examina- 

 tion and repression of heretical doctrines. (7) The 

 Congregation of Indulgences and Sacred Relics, 

 for the proclamation of indulgences and the decision 

 of questions relating to them, and for the authenti- 

 cation and distribution of relics. (8) The Congre- 

 gation of Ecclesiastical Immunity, for maintain- 

 ing ecclesiastical privileges and exemptions, as to 

 persons, places, and things. The jurisdiction of 

 the congregations does not cease on the death of 

 the sovereign pontiff; nevertheless all important 

 business is suspended during the vacancy of the 

 Holy See. 



There are 10 patriarchates, with 14 patriarchal 

 sees 8 of the Latin rite, and 6 of Oriental rite. 

 The greater or more ancient patriarchates are those 

 of Alexandria, Latin ; Antioch, with 4 patriarchal 

 sees, Latin, Maranite, Melchite, and Syriac ; Con- 

 stantinople, Latin ; and Jerusalem, Latin. The less 

 are those of Babylon, Chaldaic ; Cilieia, Armenian; 

 East Indies, Latin ; Lisbon, Latin ; Venice, Latin ; 

 and West Indies, Latin. There are in the com- 

 munion of Rome, besides the 14 patriarchal sees, 

 830 archiepiscopal and episcopal residential sees 

 of the Latin rite, and 51 archiepiscopal and episco- 

 pal residential sees of Oriental rite. Besides the 

 archbishops and bishops of these residential sees, 

 there were in January 1900 368 archbishops and 

 bishops of titular sees. In the British empire there 

 are 123 Roman Catholic residential archiepiscopal 

 and episcopal sees, 23 vicariates-apostolic, and 

 8 prefectures- apostolic, with a Roman Catholic 

 population of about 10 millions. Nineteen of the 

 23 vicariates-apostolic in the British empire are 

 held or administered by bishops of titular sees. 

 Titular sees, or, as they were styled till 1882, sees 

 in partibu.t iiifdelium i.e. sees which in ancient 

 times existed in those eastern regions which have 

 now lost the faith and fallen into barbarism are, 

 for the most part, assigned to archbishops and 

 bishops who are appointed to apostolic delegations, 

 of which there are 9, or to vicariates-apostolic, of 

 which there are 123, or to prefectures-apostolic, 

 ! which there are 50, or to the office of coadjutor, 

 auxiliary, or administrator of a diocese. Delegates- 

 a|>o*tolic and vicars-apostolic enjoy episcopal juris- 

 diction, and exercise episcopal powers, in countries 

 where a hierarchy proper has never been estab- 

 lished, or having once existed has been suppressed. 

 When the ancient hierarchy of England came to an 

 eml in 1585 with the death of Thomas Goldwell, 

 Bishop of St Asaph, the English Catholics were at 

 first placed under the jurisdiction of archpriests or 

 prefects-apostolic. But in the year 1623 Pope 

 Gregory XV. appointed a vicar-apostolic with juris- 

 diction over all the Catholics of England. About 

 sixty years later, in 1688, Pope Innocent XI. 

 created four districts or vicariates, the London, 

 Midland, Northern, and Western, appointing to 

 each district its own vicar-apostolic. In 1840 Pope 



Gregory XVI. created eight districts or vicariates, 

 the London, Western, Eastern, Central, Welsh, 

 Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Northern, each dis- 

 trict having, of course, its own vicar-apostolic. In 

 1850 Pope Pius IX. re-established the Roman 

 Catholic hierarchy in England. The vicars-apos- 

 tolic were all bishops of titular sees. Thus, Cardinal 

 Wiseman, who before the restoration of the hier- 

 archy was vicar-apostolic for the London district, 

 was entitled while vicar-apostolic Bishop of Meli- 

 potamus. Prefects-apostolic are as a rule not 

 bishops, but simple priests, who receive from the 

 Holy See authority to exercise yuasi-episcopal juris- 

 diction in missionary countries. 



As is well known, the Latin rite prevails with 

 few exceptions in the West, and also in some 

 regions of the East ; nevertheless various other rites 

 are also followed within the communion of Rome. 

 These are ( 1 ) the Greek rite, of which there are the 

 following forms, (a) The Greco- Roumanian. There 

 are 3 bishops and 1 archbishop of this rite, whose 

 sees are situated in Austria-Hungary. The lan- 

 guage of the liturgy is Roumanian, excepting in the 

 parish of Scaiusiu, in the diocese of Lugos, where 

 the language employed is the ancient Slav, (b) 

 The Greco-Ruthenian. There are 8 bishops and 1 

 archbishop of this rite, with sees in Austria- 

 Hungary and Russian Poland. The liturgical 

 language is the ancient Slav. (c) The Greco- 

 Bulganan. Of this rite there is an archbishop, 

 vicar-apostolic, for Constantinople and its neigh- 

 bourhood, with 2 bishops, vicars-apostolic, (or 

 Macedonia and Thrace. The liturgical language 

 is ancient Slav, (d) The Greco- Melchite. Of this 

 rite is the Melchite patriarch of Antioch, with 4 

 I archbishops and 9 bishops, whose sees are situated 

 in Syria. The liturgical language is the Arabic. 

 There are missions at Caesarea in Cappadocia, 

 Constantinople, and Malgara in Thrace of the pure 

 Greek rite, which are also in communion with 

 Rome. (2) The Syriac rite, of which there are 

 the following forms, (a) The pure Syriac. Of this 

 rite is the Syriac patriarch of Antioch, with 4 arch- 

 bishops and 8 bisnops, whose sees are situated in 

 Egypt, Syria, and Turkish Armenia. The litur- 

 gical language is the ancient Syriac. (b) The 

 Syro-Chaldaic. Of this rite is the patriarchate of 

 Babylon, with 4 archiepiscopal and 7 episcopal sees 

 situated in Kurdistan, Turkish Armenia, Meso- 

 potamia, and Persia. The liturgical language is 

 the ancient Chaldaic. ( e ) The Syro-Maronite. Of 

 this rite is the Maronite patriarch of Antioch, and 

 7 archbishops and 2 bishops, whose sees are situated 

 in Syria, in various other provinces of Asiatic 

 Turkey, and in the island or Cyprfts. The litur- 



fical language is the ancient Syriac, (d) The 

 yro-Malabaric. This rite is followed in the 

 vicariates-apostolic of Kottayam and Trichur in 

 the East Indies. The liturgical language is the 

 Syro-.Malabaric. (3) The Armenian nte. To this 

 rite belong the Armenian patriarchate of Cilicia, 

 the archiepiscopal see of Lernberg in Austria- 

 Hungary, the episcopal see of Artuin in the 

 Russian empire, and 17 episcopal sees situated in 

 Turkish Asia, Egypt, and Persia. The language 

 of the liturgy is the ancient Armenian. (4) The 

 Coptic rite. Of this rite there are two forms : ( a ) the 

 form followed in the vicariate-apostolic situated in 

 Egypt, where the Coptic or ancient Egyptian is 

 the language of the liturgy ; ( b ) the form observed 

 in the vicariate-apostolic in Abyssinia, where the 

 liturgical language is the ancient Ethiopic or Geez. 

 The Roman Catholic populations of the various 

 countries of Europe are, according to The States- 

 man's Year-book ( 1900), as follows : Great Britain and 

 Ireland, 5,415,000; Austria-Hungary, 27,756,000; 

 Belgium, e.&W.OOO ; Denmark, 3647; France 

 (1881)29,201,703; Germany, 17,675,000 (including 



