726 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHUECH. 



ROUMANIA. 



RUSSIA AND THE CHURCH. While the nego- 

 tiations between Prussia and the Holy See were 

 thus protracted, from the unwillingness of Prus- 

 sia to recede from the extremely harsh legisla- 

 tion adopted against the Catholic Church, the 

 relations between Russia and the Pope had 

 been speedily adjusted. The persecution of 

 Catholics in Russia had lasted for twenty years ; 

 hundreds of bishops and priests had been exiled 

 to Siberia or other districts ; men had been 

 forced into their places who went over speedily 

 to the State Church ; whole districts were com- 

 pelled to accept that Church and its ministry. 

 The Russian Government, relaxing its severity, 

 set at liberty Bishop JBorowsky, who had been 

 for twelve years interned at Perm, and released 

 others soon after. The Russian embassador, 

 M. de Bouteniew, on December 24th, signed a 

 convention with the Cardinal Secretary of State 

 by which the Latin Catholics, and especially 

 the United Greeks that is, Catholics follow- 

 ing the Greek rite, but united to the Holy See 

 secured a degree of liberty and peace that 

 they had not enjoyed for years. 



FRANCE AND THE CHURCH. In France the 

 Government continued its system of hostility. 

 By a law of March 18th, a set of books on 

 civic morality, compiled by Paul Bert and other 

 writers in a spirit hostile to Christianity, were 

 introduced into schools. The books were con- 

 demned at Rome, and several bishops, in pas- 

 toral letters, announced to parents that they 

 could not conscientiously permit their children 

 to learn them. For this the bishops were cited 

 before the courts. Steps were then taken to 

 suppress all religious instruction in schools, 

 and all Christian emblems were removed. Ab- 

 bot Couturier and his Benedictine monks were 

 forcibly evicted from their monastery at So- 

 lesmes by a force of soldiers and gens cFarmes. 

 As a compensation for the church property 

 seized by the Government, it had been estab- 

 lished that a yearly stipend was to be paid to 

 each priest doing parochial duty, and that, in 

 each commune where the collections did not 

 meet the expenses of maintaining the Church, 

 the deficiency was paid by the commune. In 

 1882 a law exempted the commune from this 

 obligation. 



PORTUGAL, ETC. Portugal and Belgium were 

 in a somewhat similar position with regard to 

 the Pope, and, at a later period, Chili also. 

 The nomination to the bishoprics is in these 

 countries claimed by the State, and in each of 

 them nominations were made which at Rome 

 were not deemed such as could in conscience 

 be approved by the Pope. Threats were made 

 of suppressing episcopal sees in Belgium and 

 Portugal. 



UNITED STATES. In the United States pro- 

 vincial councils were held at Cincinnati (March 

 4th) and San Francisco (April 29th), and a synod 

 at New York (November 8th). A new see was 

 erected at Grand Rapids, Mich. Bishop Lynch, 

 of Charleston, one of the most learned and 

 able members of the hierarchy, died February 



26th. Several cases affecting the discipline or 

 property of the Catholic Church were before 

 the courts. In Sheehan vs. Twigg, the Supreme 

 Court of Pennsylvania, following decisions in 

 Michigan and elsewhere, held a bishop not per- 

 sonally liable to a priest for his salary. In 

 Ohio, a case against Archbishop Purcell was 

 tried early in the year, but no decision was 

 rendered in 1882. The Vicar-General of the 

 diocese, Very Rev. E. Purcell, had for years 

 received deposits of money, which he invested 

 or loaned so injudiciously that he failed, owing 

 some millions, and had no books to show how 

 the money had been employed. The Most Rev. 

 John B. Purcell, as Archbishop, assumed the 

 responsibility of his brother's acts, and on this 

 the creditors claimed all ecclesiastical property 

 held in the Archbishop's name. The main 

 questions at issue were, whether a trustee can, 

 by assuming the acts of another, deprive his 

 cestui que trust of their property winch he 

 holds merely as trustee ; and, further, whether 

 any particular church was liable to the cred- 

 itors beyond the amount it may have received 

 as a loan or grant from the insolvent. Actual 

 count showed two fifths of the church-goers in 

 Boston and seventeen twenty-fourths of those 

 in St. Louis to be Catholics. 



The foreign missions showed exertion, peril, 

 and death. In China, the missionaries in north- 

 ern Honan were often in danger of death, and 

 were compelled to fly from one place to another 

 to escape the mandarins. A missionary was 

 killed at Peishun, but in southern Honan and 

 in Tchely the missionary reported more than 

 sixteen hundred adult converts. Progress was 

 also made in Tonqnin. In Zanzibar the Sultan 

 showed such favor to the missionaries that the 

 Pope sent him an elegant mosaic work. 



The general life of the Church was shown 

 in pilgrimages to Rome, and in the centenaries 

 of St. Francis of Assisium and St. Teresa. 

 Among the pilgrimages, one from Spain began 

 to assume a political aspect, but the Pope, de- 

 clining to receive one except as organized by 

 the bishops severally, prevented any political 

 demonstration. An encyclical letter, addressed 

 to the archbishops, bishops, and other ordina- 

 ries of Spain (December 8th), sought to restore 

 harmony. The centenaries of St. Francis (Sep- 

 tember 8th) and St. Teresa (October 15th) were 

 especially encouraged by the Pope, who, in a 

 brief, warmly commended the extension of the 

 Third Order of St. Francis as a remedy for our 

 times. Both celebrations were made a means 

 of reviving piety. 



The Propaganda, by a circular of October 

 20th, invited Catholic missionaries in all parts 

 of the world to send contributions to the great 

 ethnological collection, the Borgia Museum, in 

 the Vatican. 



ROUMANIA, a kingdom of Eastern Europe, 

 formerly a province of Turkey. Absolute in- 

 dependence was proclaimed May 22, 18T7, and 

 was recognized by the powers at the Congress 

 of Berlin, June 13, 1878. The Principality of 



