750 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



their places. It was seen to be necessary to estab- 

 lish, without delay, American colleges for the 

 training of priests for service in Cuba and Porto 

 Rico, who should be familiar not only with local 

 conditions, but should also understand political 

 conditions in the United States. The establish- 

 ment of one such college at New Orleans was de- 

 cided upon early in the year. 



The Philippines. The war carried on by the 

 American troops against the insurgents resulted 

 in the desecration and spoliation of much of the 

 property of the Church in the islands. In spite of 

 numerous reports to the contrary, Archbishop 

 Chappelle, apostolic delegate to the Philippine 

 Islands, late in the year expressed himself as 

 satisfied that, except in a few detached cases, the 

 looting had been done not by American soldiers, 

 but by the insurgents and Chinese. Several friars 

 were put to death by the insurgents early in the 

 year, and later the leaders of the insurgent troops 

 demanded, as a condition precedent to the accept- 

 ance of terms of peace, the expulsion of the friars 

 from the islands and the confiscation of their 

 property. The demand was based upon alleged 

 irregularities and informalities in the titles to the 

 property, but investigation by the American mili- 

 tary authorities failed to disclose any such flaws, 

 and the demand was not considered further. 

 Many of the friars, however, who were Span- 

 iards, mainly of the order of St. Augustine, re- 

 turned to Spain. 



As the work of suppressing the rebellion pro- 

 ceeded the monks returned and reopened churches, 

 colleges, and schools in the provinces under 

 American military jurisdiction. Twenty-four 

 Dominican fathers left Barcelona, July 15, to re- 

 open the University of Manila. In Deceml>er 

 the apostolic delegate visited the islands, for the 

 purpose of investigating the condition of Church 

 affairs, and in particular the alleged flaws in the 

 titles to property of the religious orders. Be- 

 fore his departure he visited President McKinley 

 at the White House, and was by him commis- 

 sioned to submit to the insurgents certain inten- 

 tions of the American Government as to the fu- 

 ture administration of the archipelago. 



England. The great cathedral at Westmin- 

 ster, which was begun in 1894 at an estimated 

 cost of 100,000, reached a partial stage of com- 

 pletion in 1899, the entire building having been 

 roofed in by the end of the year. Early in July 

 the entire fund at the disposal of the architects 

 (about 95,000) was exhausted, and the work of 

 raising funds was begun. A pastoral letter signed 

 by every bishop in the English province was is- 

 sued and met with a generous response, sufficient 

 funds being raised to carry on the work, and al- 

 most enough more pledged to complete the edi- 

 fice. It was planned to finish work on the struc- 

 ture by September, 1900, but a difficulty in obtain- 

 ing materials caused much unforeseen delay. The 

 structure as planned was to be an enormous one, 

 the supporting arches of the nave rising 90 feet 

 from the floor. Nothing but stone was used in 

 its construction save in the domes, which were 

 built of broken brick mixed into a concrete with 

 Portland cement, the mass being 3 feet thick at 

 the arches, tapering to 13 inches at the crown. 



The Pope, July 3, issued an apostolic constitu- 

 tion to the Benedictines of England, for the pur- 

 pose of consolidating the order in that country 

 and giving it uniform laws and regulations. The 

 constitution, after defining the power of the ab- 

 bots and priors of various houses and regulating 

 the course of studies, raised the monasteries of 

 Downside, Ampleforth, and Douai to the dignity 

 of abbeys. 



A ceremony which had been almost unknown 

 in England since the Reformation took place on 

 Sept. 3. when the Bishop of Birmingham blessed 

 and enthroned Mgr. Anagor, first Abbot of St. 

 Thomas's (Benedictine) Abbey, at Erdington. 



Right Rev. Robert Brindle, D. D., was on Jan. 

 27 appointed titular Bishop of Hermopolis- 

 and Assistant Bishop of Westminster. Before 

 his promotion he was one of the best-known 

 chaplains in the British army, and received the 

 only pension for distinguished and meritorious 

 service ever given to a Catholic chaplain. 



Right Rev. James Bellard, Bishop of Milevis 

 and Vicar Apostolic of Gibraltar, received episco- 

 pal consecration on May 1. He was the second 

 army chaplain to be raised to episcopal dignity in 

 1899. having served with British troops in the 

 field since 1870. 



In the United Kingdom and its dependencies- 

 there was in 1899 a Catholic population of 10.f>oo.- 

 000. as follows: England, 1,500,000; Scotland. 

 3(i.).000: Ireland, 3,550,000; British America. 



2.(i(K),000: Australia and smaller colonies, 2. 



000. There were in England 32 Catholic peers, 17 

 Catholic lords not peers, 55 Catholic baronets, 

 19 member* of the Privy Council, 3 Catholic nicm- 

 bers of the House of Commons for England and 

 (59 for Ireland. 



Ireland. The project for a Catholic university 

 in Ireland, which had been agitated for twenty-five 

 years, met a sudden and unexpected rebuff in the 

 statement of the Duke of Devonshire, made in 

 March, and to the efTect that " no practical mca*- 

 lire dealing with this subject would be brought 

 forward during the existence of the present Gov- 

 ernment." The blow was especially severe to the 

 friends of the university in view of the favor with 

 which the project had come to be regarded aiming 

 Englishmen both Catholic and Protestant, and of 

 the promises of leading statesmen of the United 

 Kingdom, notably Mr. Hal four, who had from the 

 beginning approved and aided the measure, and 

 the Earl of Cadogan, the Viceroy of Ireland, who- 

 publicly promised his full assistance and co- 

 operation in obtaining it. The .setback \\;i- c-pc- 

 cially severe to those who had advocated the pro- 

 posed scheme of national union, which even it- 

 most earnest supporters admitted had been post- 

 poned ten years by the Duke of Devonshire's flat 

 refusal to consider a measure of relief. 



A strong protest against the Duke of Devon- 

 shire's statement was made on June 25 by the 

 bishops of Ireland, who, with Cardinal Logue at 

 their head, passed a resolution calling upon the 

 English Parliament to take up the question. The 

 matter was brought up shortly after by Mr. Dil- 

 lon and Mr. Balfour in the House of Commons, 

 and though the project was strongly favored by 

 part of the existing ministry, no measure of re- 

 lief was introduced. The Duke of Devonshire'* 

 objection was mainly on the ground that the 

 voters of Ulster opposed the project, and a- in 

 them he found the warmest adherents to the 

 unionist policy of the existing Government, to- 

 their opinions especially was he bound to defer. 

 The subject was dropped at the outbreak of the 

 war with the Transvaal, but late in the year ru- 

 mors of French preparation for war brought the 

 question again to the front. Irish sympathies 

 were generally with the Transvaal, and it became 

 incumbent upon Lord Salisbury's Government so 

 to remold Irish opinion as to make it safe to in- 

 trust the defense of Ireland to her own sons in 

 case of a French invasion. The gift of a Catholic 

 university was then considered, and by part of 

 the Cabinet favored, as affording a sufficient sop 

 to Irish pride. But the matter was passed over 



