EASTERN RITES 129 



Council of Florence, Clement VIII, Benedict XIV, Pius IX, 

 and Leo XIII, have done special and signal acts in regard 

 to the Greek Rite, and the Encyclical of Leo XIII, "Dignitas 

 Orientalium," deserves especially to be remembered. Pope 

 Pius X is to be remembered likewise for his magnificent (15th) 

 centenary celebration of St. John Chrysostom, held at the Vati- 

 can in 1908, when Pontifical Greek Mass was celebrated there, 

 for the first time since the Council of Florence, by the Patri- 

 arch of Antioch, in the presence of twenty-six Greek Catholic 

 bishops and numerous Greek clergy from all parts of the Ori- 

 ental Catholic world and a host of Roman prelates and clergy. 

 Piux X appointed two Greek Catholic bishops for America. 



Besides the Ruthenians there are also the Melchites or 

 Syrians speaking the Arabic language, who follow the Greek 

 Rite and are Catholics in communion with Rome. They be- 

 gan coming here in 1886, and are now spread throughout the 

 country. Their name comes from Melek, the King, back in 

 Arian times, when Catholics were followers of the Emperor 

 of Constantinople, as against the Arians who were not, and 

 even remained Catholics when Constantinople left unity. 

 When Cyril V, who was elected Patriarch of Antioch in 1700, 

 left the schism and submitted to unity, they obtained a re- 

 stored line of Catholic hierarchy. They have about fifteen 

 churches and sixteen clergy in this country. Their church 

 books are printed in Arabic and Greek in parallel columns and 

 a priest may say Mass either in Greek or Arabic. There are 

 probably about 15,000 of them here. 



The Rumanians are chiefly the inhabitants of Transylvania 

 in Hungary. The Rumanians of Rumania mostly belong to 

 the Orthodox Greek Church. Until 1878, Rumania was a 

 Turkish province, whilst Transylvania has been an enlight- 

 ened state in Hungary for the past two hundred years. They 

 say the Greek Mass in the Rumanian language, which is a 

 Latin tongue, and their church books are printed in Roman 

 letters. Their unity with the Holy See dates back to 1700. 



The Italian Greek Catholics boast that they have never 

 been in schism. They come from the lower part of Italy, 

 which was once known as Magna Grsecia, where the Greek 

 language was spoken. They hold the tradition that they were 

 converted by St. Paul. Their church language is, of course, 

 the ancient Greek, in which all their church books are printed. 



