Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/385

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SAINT BONAVENTURE


339


SAINT BONIFACE


1890); CoRBlfeRRE, Numismntique Benedicline (Rome, 1904); Kniel, Die St. Benediktsmedaille, ihre Geschichte, Bedeutung, Ah- lasse u. wunderbare Wirkungen (Ravensburg, 1905).

Michael Ott.

Saint Bonaventure, College of, at Quaracchi, near Florence, Italy, famous as the centre of literary activity in the Order of Friars Minor, was founded 14 July, 1879, by Mgr. Bernardino del Vago, Archbishop of Sardis, then minister general of the order. The first director and superior of the college was Father Fidelis of Fauna, under whose scholarly and energetic management the new edition of the works of St. Bonaventure was inaugurated. Upon his death in 1881, Father Fidelis was succeeded by Ignatius Jeiler, of the province of Saxony. Besides being a man of profound piety. Father Jeiler possessed an intimate knowledge of scholastic philosophy and theology, especially that of St. Bonaventure, and was thus eminently fitted to take up the work of his prede- ces.sor. Two years before his death in 1904 Father Jeiler was succeeded by Leonard Lemmens, already well-known for his many contributions to Franciscan history. The series of works that have in recent years been published at Quaracchi, and edited by the "Patres editores", as they are usually called, have gained for them an enviable reputation for critical scholarship. Foremost among these, besides the "Opera Omnia" of St. Bonaventure, is the "Analecta Franciscana", edited in greatest part by Quinctianus MuUer, O.F.M. (d. 1902), which contains a collection of chronicles relating to the early history of the order and of which four volumes have thus far (1885-1907) appeared. Besides these, the "Bibliotheca Fran- ciscana scholastica medii a>vi", of which three vol- umes have been published (1903-04), and the "Bib- liotheca Franciscana ascetica modii a'vi", inaugurated in 1904 with a critical edition of the writings of St. P>ancis, have placed the student of medieval liter- ature under heavy obligations to the Quaracchi friars. As well as continuing the "Annales" of Wadding, the twenty-fifth volume of which appeared in 1899, the Fathers of the college have edited a number of other publications of a purely devotional and literary character. In 1903 a new criticid cdilion of the work of Alexander of Hales was undertaken, which is to be followed by the other Franciscan scholastics. The "Acta Ordinis", a monthly in Latin, and the official organ of the order, and the new "Archivium Fran- ciscano-Historicum", are published at Quaracchi.

St. Anthony's Almanac (1906); Carmichael in The Month (.Jan., 1904).

Stephen M. Donovan.

Saint Boniface, Archdiocese of (Sancti Boni- FACii), the chief ecclesiastical division of the Canadian West, .so-called after the patron saint of the German soldiers who were among its first settlers.

SuccE.ssivE Areas. — It commenced its official exis- tence as the vicariate-apostolic of the north-west in 1844, though Bishop Provencher, its titular, had been there with episcopal rank since 1822. At that time it comprised the entire territory west of the Great Lakes and as far north as the Pole. The same cir- cumscription became a diocese without changing name on 4 June, 1847, but received in 1852 the title of Diocese of St. Boniface. In May, 1862, all the territory tributary to the Arctic Sea was detached therefrom and made into the Vicariate-Apostolic of Athabasca-Mackenzie. On 22 Sept., 1871, the See of St. Boniface was raised to the rank of an arch- bishopric, while, out of the north-western portion of its territory, a new diocese was being carved, with headquarters at St. Albert, near Edmonton. The north-eastern part of this area further became in 1890 the Vicariate-Apostolic of the Saskatchewan, and this arrangement left to the Archdiocese of St. Boniface 109° W. long, for its western boundary,


while in the north this ran along 52° N. lat. as far as the eastern limit of Manitoba, following afterwards the northern end of Lake Manitoba and the Nelson River to Fort York. The eastern boundary was 91° W. long. With the formation of the Diocese of Regina (4 March, 1910) new delimitations became necessary. They are the following: in the south the international boundary as far as 91° W. long.; thence north to a line continuous with the northern limits of Manitoba, as far as the line dividing this province from Saskatchewan, which now becomes the western limit of the archdiocese.

Population and Organization. — The Catholic population within the present area is 87,816. Though partaking of the cosmopolitan character proper to the Canadian West, the various groups in this population are more compact. Thus the 29,595 diocesans of French extraction control four counties absolutely. The nationality most numerously represented is that of the Galicians, who number 32,637. The English- speaking Catholics live mostly in towns, and are esti- mated at 94S5. The same might almost be said of the Poles, who number 9369. The Germans count 2062 souls, and the Indians al)()ut 2000. In 1853, when Mgr Tach^ succeeded Bishop Provencher, the entire diocese, vast as it tlien was, counted but two parishes with as many unorganized annexes, and three Indian missions with resident priests. Besides the bishop, 4 secular and 7 Oblate priests attended to the spiritual needs of the Catholic population. At the time of the accession of the present archbishop the number of parishes had grown to thirty-five, though the area of the diocese had in the meantime been con- siderably diminished. There were then 85 churches or chapels, with 67 priests, of whom 31 belonged to the secular clergy. To-day, with a still more reduced territory, the archdiocese counts 1 archbi.shop, 1 Ro- man prelate, and 162 priests, of whom 95 are members of the regular ch^rgy. Apart from the two digni- taries, 138 of the priests hav(^ Fr(>nch for th(nr mother- tongue; 9 are English-speaking; 6 are Poles, 5 Ger- mans, 2 Dutch, 2 Galicians, and 1 Italian. The religious orders of men in the archdiocese are the following: Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 47 priests; Jesuits, 12; Canons Ro^gular of the Immaculate Con- ception, 11; Trappists, 10; Sons of Mary Immacu- late, 9; Redemptorists, 4; Clerics of St. Viator, 2; Bjisilians of the liuthenian Rite, 2. Independently of these two last, the Galician population is ministered to by 2 French priests who have adopted the Ruthenian Rite, as well as by a few Redemptorists and some Oblates, while 3 more French priests are in Austria preparing for the same ministry.

Institutions. — The institutions of the archdio- cese are: 1 college under the Jesuits, with 350 pupils; 1 lower seminary (founded 1909) with 45 pupils; 1 Ob- late juniorate; 2 general hospitals; 1 maternity hos- pital; 1 house of refuge for girls; 3 orphan asylums; 1 asylum for old people; and 6 Indian boarding schools. The State-supported Catholic schools hav- ing been officially abolished in 1890 (see Manitoba), the two cities of Winnipeg and Brandon, where the majority of the population is Protestant, force the Catholics to pay double taxes, since the latter have to maintain their own schools as well as those of the Protestants. But, in virtue of an agreement between the present archbishop and the Government, the country schools continue to be conducted along Catholic lines. The American Brothers of the So- ciety of Mary direct the English parochial schools of Winnipeg and St. Boniface, while French Brothers of the Cross of Jesus render the same services at St.- Pierre. As to the Orders of women within the arch- diocese, they are: Grey Nuns (first arrived in 1844); Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary; Sis- ters of Notre Dame des Missions; Sisters of Provi- dence; Sisters of St. Joseph; Sisters of Our Lady of