This denomination is spread over every section of the United States and the British Provinces. They form, it is stated, more than three fourths of the population of the Canadas. They are also found in large numbers in the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In this Union, they are most numerous in the Middle States; but in consequence of the great influx of this people into North America, and their frequent change of location, it is utterly impossible to state their numbers, in each state, with any degree of accuracy. Their number in the United States is variously stated from five hundred thousand to one million five hundred thousand. Their number, probably, is not less than eight hundred thousand, nor more than one million two hundred thousand. The population of Canada, in 1840, was at least one million. -- -- -- -- -- -- - The first Roman Catholics that came to this country were from England, under Lord Baltimore, a Catholic nobleman, in 1634. They settled the state of Maryland; and, much to their honor, while some of the Protestant provinces were persecuting all those who differed from them on religious subjects, the Catholic Marylanders protected all sects that were moral and civil in their deportment. We copy from the "Metropolitan Catholic Almanac and Laity's Directory for 1841" the following statistical table: -- STATISTICS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES Diocese. Churches Clergymen Clergymen Eccl. Clerical and in the otherwise Inst. Students. Chapels. Ministry. employed. Diocese. Literary Young Men Female Female Pupils in Inst. for in Religious Academ. Female young Men. College. Inst. Academ. Baltimore 5 633 5 9 530 Richmond 0 0 0 3 100 Philadelphia 2 60 0 1 30 New York 1 0 2 120 Boston 1 60 1 1 Detroit 1 1 1 Cincinnati 1 2 2 70 Vincennes 1 50 1 1 50 Du Buque 1 0 1 St Louis 3 320 10 10 640 Bardstown 3 300 3 10 528 Nashville 1 0 0 0 New Orleans 1 100 4 4 526 Natchez 0 0 Mobile 2 70 2 2 60 Charleston 1 2 2 128 Total 24 1593 31 49 2782 The sacred college of cardinals has fifty-seven members. The total number is seventy. There are twelve patriarchs in the Christian world. The archbishops and bishops amount to six hundred and seventy-one. The vicars apostolic in different countries are fifty-seven in number, besides whom there are thirty-eight coadjutor-bishops, making the grand total of the Catholic episcopacy amount to seven hundred and sixty-six bishops. CATHOLIC PERIODICALS. -- The United States Catholic Miscellany, published weekly in Charleston, S. C.; the Catholic Telegraph, published weekly in Cincinnati, Ohio; the Catholic Herald, published weekly in Philadelphia; the Catholic Advocate, published weekly in Bardstown, Ky.; Der Wahrheit's Freund, (German paper,) published weekly in Cincinnati, Ohio; the New York Catholic Register, published weekly in the city of New York; Ordo divini Officii recitandi, Missaeque celebrandae, juxta Rubricas Breviarii ac Missalis Romani, published annually in Baltimore; the Young Catholic's Magazine, enlarged series, published on the first of each month, in New York. -- -- -- -- -- -- - At the time of the reformation, 1517, papal power, or the power of the pope of Rome, had acquired so great a spiritual dominion over the minds and consciences of men, that all Europe submitted to it with implicit obedience. At the present day, the Roman Catholic religion prevails, more or less, in every country in Christendom. Its population is stated to exceed eighty millions. It is the established religion of Austria, France, Portugal, and Spain, and of thirteen other states in Europe. Popes of Rome.(16) A. D. 33. St. Peter, martyred. The title of pope was originally given to all bishops. It was first adopted by Hygenus, A. D.138; and Pope Boniface III. procured Phocas, emperor of the East, to confine it to the prelates of Rome, 606. By the connivance of Phocas, also, the pope's supremacy over the Christian church was established. The custom of kissing the pope's toe was introduced in 708. The first sovereign act of the popes of Rome was by Adrian I., who caused money to be coined with his name, 780. Servius II. was the first pope who changed his name, on his election, in 844. The first pope who kept an army was Leo IX., 1054. Gregory VII. obliged Henry IV., emperor of Germany, to stand three days, in the depth of winter, barefooted, at his castle gate, to implore his pardon 1077. The pope's authority was firmly fixed in England 1079. Appeals from English tribunals to the pope were introduced 1154. Henry II. of England held the stirrup for Pope Alexander III. to mount his horse, 1161, and also for Becket, 1170. "When Louis, king of France, and Henry II. of England, met Pope Alexander III. at the castle of Torci, on the Loire, they both dismounted to receive him, and, holding each of them one of the reins of his bridle, walked on foot by his side, and conducted him in that submissive manner into the castle." Pope Adrian IV. was the only Englishman that ever obtained the tiara. His arrogance was such, that he obliged Frederick I. to prostrate himself before him, kiss his foot, hold his stirrup, and lead the white palfrey on which he rode. Celestine III. kicked the emperor Henry VI.'s crown off his head while kneeling, to show his prerogative of making and unmaking kings, 1191. The pope collected the tenths of the whole kingdom of England, 1226. Appeals to Rome from England were abolished 1533. The words "Lord Pope" were struck out of all English books 1541. The papal authority declined about 1600. Kissing the pope's toe, and other ceremonies, were abolished by Clement XIV., 1773. The pope became destitute of all political influence in Europe, 1787. Pius VI. was burnt in effigy at Paris, 1791. He made submission to the French republic, 1796, was expelled from Rome, and deposed, February 22, 1798, and died at Valence, August 19, 1799. Pius VII. was elected in exile, March 13, 1800; he crowned Napoleon, December 2, 1804; was dethroned May 13, 1809; remained a prisoner at Fontainebleau till Napoleon's overthrow; and was restored May 24, 1814. |
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