ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 631 form which has existed down to the present time amongst all the Orientals who follow the Greek rite. Mclchites. The Melchites (see MELCHITES) have the Greek rite in the Arab language. They are found scattered throughout Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and have one patriarch and ten bishops ruling over from 70,000 to 80,000 souls. Their clergy are, for the most part, regular, following the rule of St Basil, and are divided into three congregations, that of San Salvatore near Saida (Sidon) in Lebanon, with about 300 persons who mostly have the care of souls ; the second, of St John the Baptist', is at Scieur in Lebanon, with thirty members ; and the third is the congregation of Aleppo, at St George in Lebanon, with forty members between priests and brothers. A small group of secular clergy is attached to the patri- archate. Besides these there are about forty secular married priests throughout the dioceses. The patriarchal residence is Damascus, which has two bishops - vicars, one in Damascus, the other in Egypt. The ten dioceses are Tyre, Hauran, Saida or Sidon, Ptolemais, Beyrout, Zakle, Baalbec, Emessa, Aleppo, and Tripoli. Thus there are twelve bishops in all. Bulgarians. The United Bulgarians have the same Greek rite, with the mass in the Slav language. Their origin dates from 1860, when many prelates and people passed over to the Catholic Church. At present (1885) their numbers are somewhat diminished, amounting to about 9000 souls. They have one archbishop, who resides in Constantinople, a vicar-apostolic for Thrace, who resides in Adrian ople, and another vicar -apostolic for Macedonia, who resides in Salonica. The Turkish Government officially recognizes them as Catholics. They are spread amongst the villages in Turkey and especially in Macedonia. Besides these there are in the diocese of Philippopolis about 15,000 Bulgarian Catholics who have em- braced the Latin rite. These are administered by a vicar-apostolic of the order of Capuchins. Ruthenians. The Ruthenians attribute their conversion to Chris- tianity to St Methodius (860) and his brother St Cyril. The Ruthenian rite is Greek in the vicinity of Greece and Latin in the countries of western Europe. The Slav is the language used in both rites. The Ruthenians are numerous in eastern and western Galicia, in Poland, and in Hungary. In Russia they have two dioceses. In Galicia they number about 2,600,000 with 2000 priests ; in Hungary the two dioceses of Eperies and Munkacs count half a million of Catholics. In Galicia they have one metro- politan (Lemberg) and two bishops, in Hungary two bishops, and in Crisio one, with about 200 priests in these three dioceses. They have a Greek Ruthenian college at Rome and another in Vienna. Maronitcs. The greater number of the MARONITES (q.v.) are in Lebanon, where the patriarch resides ; others are iu Syria, in Egypt, and in Cyprus. The patriarchal title is Antioch ; the archbishops are those of Aleppo, Archis, Berito, Damascus, Tyre and Sidon, and Tripoli ; the bishops of Cyprus, Heliopolis, and Gibail and Botri. The Maronites of Alexandria are administered by a procurator of the patriarch. The population of these dioceses is nearly 400,000. The number of regular priests is about 1200, of secular priests about 600. In Mount Lebanon there are seventy-five convents of men and women. Five colleges or seminaries depend upon the patriarch and four others on the archbishops. In these seminaries the clerics learn Arabic, Syriac, Latin, French, and Italian. The language used in the mass and in the offices of the church is Syriac, that spoken by the people is Arabic. Syro-Chaldeans. The Oriental Syrians are called, ecclesiastically, Chaldeans. This name comprises, not only the inhabitants of Chaldea, but also those of Assyria, Mesopotamia, and a part of Persia. To distinguish them from those having other rites equally Syrian, they were exclusively termed Chaldeans by Pope Eugenius IV. (1431-1447). Previous to the council of Florence (1438) they were called Orientals or Syro-Orientals. The Catholic Chaldeans have a patriarch who for a long period has had his residence at Mosul (Mesopotamia), and has the title of patriarch of Babylonia with archiepiscopal jurisdiction over the city of Baghdad. There are five archdioceses Amida or Diarbekir in Mesopotamia, Seert in Assyria, Salmas and Adorbigana in Persia, Kerkuk (Carcha) in Parthic Assyria, and Amadia in Kurdistan. The dioceses are Mardin and Gezira in Mesopotamia, Zaku in Assyria-Media, Sena in Persia, Bassorah on the Persian Gulf, and Acri and Zebari in the mountains of Kurdistan. The number of secular clergy in the patriarchate, archdioceses, and dioceses approximates 200. There is a congregation of Antonian monks, having the title of S. Hor- misdas, who have an abbot-general, five houses or convents, forty priests, and a hundred monks. The other religious houses bear the names of Mother of God, St George, St Abraham, and St James. The largest number of Catholics is in the diocese of Mosul with Baghdad, 25,000. In all there are over 90,000 Catholics. The language of the mass and church office is Syro-Chaldaic. _ Copts. The Coptic rite prevails throughout all Egypt. At one time there was a liturgy of Lower and another of Upper Egypt. In the former the Memphitic dialect was in use and the Theban dialect in the latter. But as the patriarchs of Alexandria were Greeks they, followed by several churches in Egypt, changed the liturgy into the Greek language ; and after the schism in the 5th century the liturgy became Coptic, as the patriarchs were Copts. There are three liturgies in use at present that of St Basil, that of St Gregory Nazianzen, and that of St Mark, rearranged by St Cyril of Alex- andria. The Theban dialect is no longer used ; but the Memphitic still prevails, and in it the offices of the church are recited. The Catholic population is only about 6000, with twenty-two priests, one bishop, and a vicar-apostolic, whose residence is at Cairo. Armenians. The Armenians (see ARMENIAN CHURCH) regard St Gregory the Illuminator as their apostle. Pope Benedict XIV. instituted the patriarchate of Cilicia in 1742, and Pius VIII. in 1830 instituted the Armenian Catholic primacy in Constantinople. In 1867 Pius IX. united Cilicia with the primacy of Constantinople, so that the patriarch now bears the title of Cilicia and has his residence in Constantinople. Turkey, Russia, Asia Minor, Armenia (Greater and Lesser), Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt have Armenian Catholics, who altogether number 100,000 at the present time (1885). There are ten archbishops and bishops and over 350 priests. They also possess religious orders, the Mechitarists of Venice and of Vienna, and have an Armenian college at Rome and an Armenian seminary at Bzommar in Mount Lebanon. The liturgical language is literary Armenian, and they have a special rite and liturgy. The people speak vulgar Armenian and Turkish. There is an institute of Armenian sisters of the Immaculate Conception at Constantinople to attend to the education of young girls, especially those newly converted. Roumanians. As early as the council of Florence the Roumanian metropolitan of Moldavia subscribed the decree of union ; but the time had not yet come for an actual union with Rome. In 1700, under the metropolitan Theophilus and his successor Athanasius I. , the great national synod of Alba Julia (Fogaras) was held, in which the bishop, the archpriests, and all the clergy of the Roumanian Church of Transylvania " freely and spontaneously by the impulse of God" concluded a union with the Roman Catholic Church. This declaration was signed by the metropolitan, by fifty-four archpriests (protopapas), and by 1561 priests. Historians say that 200,000 families were united to Rome on that day. Some afterwards again fell away, but there is at present a great movement prevailing amongst these towards union. The United Catholics are chiefly in Transylvania and Hungary and number about a million and a half, with from 1500 to 1600 priests. In 1854 Pius IX. erected into an ecclesiastical province the United Roumanian Church with an arch- bishopric, Alba Julia (Fogaras), and three bishoprics. To the diocese of Grosswardein in Hungary was added that of Lugos in the Banat and that of Armenopolis (Samos-Ujvar), which constitute a flourish- ing ecclesiastical province. For the education of the clergy four places for students were given by Pius IX. in the Greek college at Rome, and they have sixteen places in the central seminary of Budapest. They have two seminaries, one in the metropolitan diocese, with fifty and another at Armenopolis with sixty students. In the diocese of Armenopolis the number of souls is 647,666, with 486 parishes and a monastery. In the archdiocese of Alba Julia the number is 361,000, with 729 parishes and 706 priests. At Grosswardein and Lugos the number of Catholics is less. The rite in use is the Greek, but the language is the Roumanian. This is the only rite which employs the vulgar tongue. (P. L. C. ) English Law relating to Roman Catholics. The history of the old penal laws against Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom has been sketched in the articles ENGLAND and IRELAND. 1 The principal English Acts directed against " popish recusants " 2 will be found in the list given in the Acts repealing them (7 and 8 Viet, c. 102; 9 and 10 Viet. c. 59). The principal Scottish Act was 1700, c. 3 ; the principal Irish Act, 2 Anne c. 3. Numerous decisions illustrating the practical operation of the old law in Ireland are collected in Howard's Cases on the Popery Laws, 1775. .The Roman Catholic Emancipa- tion Act, 1829 (10 Geo. IV. c. 7), although it gave Roman Catholic citizens in the main complete civil and religious liberty, at the same time left them under certain disabilities, trifling in comparison with those under which they laboured before 1829. Nor did the Act affect in any way the long series of old statutes directed against the assumption of authority by the Roman see in England. The earliest of these which is still law is the Statute of Pro visors of 1351 (25 Edw. III. st. 4). Most of what has been already stated 1 See also Stephen's History of the Criminal Law, vol. ii. p. 483 ; Anstey, The Law affecting Roman Catholics, 1842. 2 A recusant signified a person who refused to duly attend lu's parish church.
