ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



testator was valid ; but in another case in New 

 York in June, Judge Freeman, of an inferior 

 court, held such a bequest invalid. 



Churches for colored Catholics were dedi- 

 cated during the year in Baltimore and New 

 York, and a Colored Home for the Aged at 

 Louisville, Ky. 



Canada. The Catholic Church in Canada, 

 and adjacent provinces, in 1883, had 5 arch- 

 bishops, 25 bishops, 2,032 priests, and 1,699 

 churches, with a population of 2,082,895. 



The pilgrimage to St. Anne at Beaupre 1 was 

 increased greatly from all parts of Canada. 



A difficulty arose in connection with the 

 establishment of a branch of the University 

 Laval, of Quebec, in Montreal. Bishop Con- 

 roy, at the time of his death, had made prog- 

 ress in adjusting the questions regarding the 

 succursal Medical College of Laval University 

 and the H6tel Dieu, Montreal, but new diffi- 

 culties arose, which even injunctions from 

 Cardinal Siraeoni failed to remove. A new 

 apostolic delegate, Mgr. Henry Smeulder, was 

 sent out and made his solemn entry into the 

 Basilica, Quebec, Oct. 22, 1883. The questions 

 at issue were still undecided. 



Chili. The Spanish-American republics 

 claim the right of patronage granted by Pope 

 Julius II to Philip II, and under it assume the 

 right of nominating bishops. This has led to 

 frequent vacancies, as the candidates presented 

 are not always such as any Pope can con- 

 scientiously appoint. In Chili the Government 

 nominated Mgr. Tafarofor the archbishopric of 

 Santiago; the Pope declined to appoint him, 

 and finally sent Mgr. del Mate as delegate to 

 Chili, to endeavor to adjust the difficulty ; but 

 the Chilian Cabinet almost immediately sent 

 him his passports. 



Australia. The Catholic Church in Australia 

 sustained a great loss in the death of Arch-, 

 bishop Roger Bede Vaughan, of Sydney, who 

 died suddenly while in England, Aug. 18, 1883. 



Foreign Missions. The Catholic missions in 

 Anam and China were involved in great dan- 

 ger by the French operations in Anam, as 

 they led to a general exasperation against all 

 .Christians supposed to be connected with 

 France. The Rev." M. Bechet, of the Semi- 

 nary of the Foreign Missions, Paris, was de- 

 capitated, May 1st, in the province of Thang 

 Hoa, Tonquin. The Abbe" Terrasse was put to 

 death at Yunnansen, China, and about 70 na- 

 tive Christians were driven from their homes 

 and put to death. The church in Anam con- 

 tained six vicariates apostolic, with 396 priests 

 and 501,223 Christians, exclusive of the part 

 under French rule, which contained 98 priests 

 and 65,242 Christians. 



In Madagascar Father Gaston de Batz and 

 Brother Martin Bmtail were starved to death 

 at Mananzary, July 28 and 29. 



The revolt of El Mahdi in the Soudan broke 

 up all the Catholic missions, and the clergy fell 

 into his hands, but no details of their fate have 

 been obtained. 



ROUMANIA. 



li'Jf, 



At Colombo, in Ceylon, on Easter-day, the 

 Buddhists, at the instigation of a fanatic booze, 

 got up a procession near the Catholic cathe- 

 dral, bearing a crucified monkey, grotesque 

 figures in derision of the Virgin Mary, and 

 other emblems intended to provoke the "< lu-U- 

 tians. A bloody riot ensued. The trouble 

 spread, and several Catholic churches in the 

 rural districts were burned or pulled down. 



ROUMANIA, a kingdom of Eastern Europe, 

 formerly a province of Turkey. Absolute in- 

 dependence was proclaimed May 22, 1877, and 

 was recognized by the powers at the Congress 

 of Berlin, June 13, 1878. The principality of 

 Roumnnia was erected into a kingdom March 

 26, 1881. The Constitution was elaborated by 

 a Constituent Assembly in 1866. It delegates 

 the legislative power to the Senate, of 70 

 members, and the Chamber of Deputies, of 

 145 members. Every citizen who pays taxes 

 is a voter. The electoral colleges are four in 

 number, corresponding to four classes of voters. 



The King, Carol I, the son of Prince Ho- 

 henzollern-Sigmaringen, was born April 20, 

 1839. He was elected Prince of Roumania in 

 1866, after the abdication of Couza, who was 

 elected Hospodar of Moldavia and Wallachia 

 in 1859, and assumed the title of Prince Alex- 

 ander John I upon their union into the Prin- 

 cipality of Roumania in 1861. The executive 

 authority is exercised by a council of seven. 



Area and Population. The area, as fixed by 

 the Treaty of Berlin, is about 49,979 square 

 miles. The population of the kingdom is 

 known only by estimates. The official esti- 

 mate of the total population in 1882 was 

 5,376,000. In Roumania, as it was before the 

 Treaty of Berlin, the estimated population of 

 5,073,000 souls included 772,700 strangers. 



About 4,529,000 of the inhabitants of Rou- 

 mania proper belong to the Greek Orthodox 

 Church, 114,200 are Roman Catholics, 400,- 

 000 Hebrews, 13,800 Protestants, 8,000 Ar- 

 menians, and 2,000 Mohammedans. The capi- 

 tal, Bucharest, contains 221,000 inhabitants; 

 Jassy, 90,000 ; Galatz, 80,000. The number of 

 marriages in 1882 was, exclusive of the Do- 

 brudja, 44,242 ; births, 191,653 ; deaths, 134,627. 



Commerce. The imports increased from 82,- 

 927,228 lei (the leu is the equivalent of a 

 franc) in 1871 to 255,336,415 lei in 1880, 274,- 

 757,458m 1881, and 268,850,921 lei in 1882; 

 the exports from 177,682,783 lei in 1871 to 

 218,918,878 in 1880,206,518,317 in 1881, and 

 244,730,199 lei in 1882. The commerce with 

 the principal foreign countries in 1881 was in 

 round numbers as follows, in lei : 



