Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/873

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
791

ASIA


791


ASIA


of the Hcllonic colonies along the coast of Asia Minor. There Pytliagorus was born, and Antony and Cleo- patra once rcsiilod at Sanios. In ancient times it was a favourite resort for those wearied of the agitated life of Koine.

IX. V'ic.\ni.\TE Apostolic ok Asi.\ Minok. — In 1818 the Vicariate Apostolic of Asia Minor, founded in the seventeenth century, was confided by Pius VI to the Archbishop of Smyrna as Administrator Apostolic. Since then the .Vrchbishop of Smyrna oxerciscs jurisdiction over the Latin Catholics of the greater part of Asia Minor, a few places excepted. Smyrna itself is the chief centre of Catholicism in the peninsula. It was founded as a Latin see by Clement VI in 1340, became extinct in the seven- teenth century, was restored and elevated (1818) to the archiepiscopal dignity by Pius VII. Kor about a century and a half, from 161 S to the latter part of the eighteenth century, the Jesuits exercised with success the pastoral ministry at Smyrna, for many ocuturii's the chief re.sort of the once numerous Latin Christians (chiefly Italian and French) known as " Levantines". They were the traders, merchants, travellers, agents of all kinds in business at the various centres of commerce in the islands and along the coast of Asia Minor, which are known as "Scale" to the Italians and Kchelles" to the French. Here the famous "lingua franca", or jargon of a few hundred uninflecteil Provencal, Spanish, and French words, with some Greek and Turkish, was the princi- pal medium of commercial conununication. When the Jesuits first entered Smvrna they found there some 30,01X) well disposed Christians and 7,000 to 8,000 .\rmenians. Lazarists and Capuchins were also active at Smyrna during this period. The Latin Catholics of Smyrna and vicinity are variously estimated from lo,400 to 18,000. There are in the city proper 8 churches and 8 chapels. The parishes are 3 in number and the clergy 61 (19 .secular priests and 4'J religious, Franciscans, Capuchins, Dominicans, Lazarists, Mechitarists). There are 1,5 schools (8 for boys, 7 for girls), with 3 boarding-schools or academies for girls, conducted respectively by the "Dames de Sion", the Sisters of Charity, and the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, 'fhe orphan asylums number 4, with about 1290 orplians. There is al.so a hospital. Since 1839 the Sisters of Charity (87) and since 1840 the Christian Brothers have been active at Smyrna in works of charity and education; the latter had in their college (1901) I.^.t pupils. The Lazarists conduct a college known as the (^ollege of Propaganda, fountlod in 1841; it has about 100 pupils. The present .\rchbishop of Smyrna and Administrator .\postolic of A.sia Minor is Monsignor Raffaele Francesco Marengo, a Dominican, from 1871 to 1904 parish priest of Galata (Constanti- nople), and since 1904 Ordinarj' of Smyrna. He has one suffragan, the Bishop of Candia, or Crete. Outside of Smyrna, there are very few Latin Catholics in Asia Minor. The " Mi.s.siones Catholica'" for 1901 gives the names of 16 scattered mi.ssions. Since 1880 tlie .\,ssumptionist Fathers of Constantinople and the Oblate Sisters of the same congregation have devoted them.selves to missionarj' work along the line of the railway from |{rous,sa to Koniah (Iconium). They have opened 8 schools for boys and 7 for girls, in which they care for about 1,2(HJ children. Their services are mostly in demand for the Latin Catholics engaged in business or in the construction of the railway. Moslem fanaticism and Creek jealou.sy are sources of opposition. In 19(X) there were engaged in charitable and educational work on these tempo- rary missiims 100 .\.ssumptionist Sisters. The few Catholic (I'niat) Creeks on the mainland have no special organization of their own but are subject to tne Latin Archbishop of Smyrna as Administrator of the Vicariate .\postolic of .\sia Minor. Formerly


all Catholics in the .\rchipelago (Latin and Greek) were under the jurisdiction of Smyrna, but since 14 December, 1897. there has been a prefecture Apostolic for the island of Rhodes, including eleven other islands. In this prefecture the Catholics number about 360 in a population of 36,(X)0, and are attended by J Franciscan missionaries. They have

churches and chapels, a college, with 60 pupils ilirected by the Christian Brothers, and an academy for girls (130) ilirected by Franciscan Tertiaries. The Catholic (Uniat) .\rmenians scattered through the peninsula have their own ecclesiastical organiza- tion dependent on Constantinople, where the Porte now recognizes the Catholic Armenian Patriarch of Cilicia, since 1867 oflicially resident in the Turkish capital. He is the successor of the Armenian arch- bishop-primate created at Constantinople in 18.30 by the Holy See for the benefit of the Uniat .\rmenians. but ignored by the Porte until 1867, when Pius IX secured the recognition of the settlement just men- tioned. There are episcopal sees for the Catholic .■Vrmenians of .\sia Mmor at Adana (3,000), .Vngora (7,000), Brous.sa (3,(X»0), Kaisariveh or Cajsarea (1,.')IX)), Melitene (4,(H)0). ErzerOm" (10,000), Trebi- zond O'i.OOO), and Sivas (3,000). In all these places the Catholic Armenians are far outnumbered by their schismatic countrymen. The Mechitarist I'athera (.\rmcnian monks) have stations at Broussa, Angora, and Smyrna, als(j at .\idin, the ancient Tralles in the valley of the Ma-aiider, where there are about 3,000 Armenian Catholics in a population of 40.000 or ,50.000. The .\rmenian Catholic patriarch at Constantinople has a jurisdiction over his people (16.000 in Constantinople), both civil and ecclesia-s- tical, analogous to that of the Greek Orthodox patriarch and his own schismatic felln\v-p:itri:ir(h. The CathoHc .'Vrmenian clergy of Constantinople numbered (1901) 85; of these 26 were Mechitarists (10 from Vienna. 16 from Venice), and 9 were -■Vn- tonian monks. There were 5 schools for boys and 3 for girls, with 300 pupils, 2 colleges and 1 lyceum,

1 hospital, 1 a.sylum for the insane and 1 asylum for invalids. Their churches and chapels number 16. and the parishes 13. The present patriarch is Monsignor Sabbaghi an (Peter Paul XII). Since 1869 the law of celibacy, that until then had not been observed by all the Armenian Catholic clergy, has been made obligatory. The " Missiones Catholica*" for 1901 indicates the following Latin missionaries in -Vrmenian centres of Asia Minor. Jesuits. Capu- chins, Lazarist-s. and Trappists (in all about thirty) at .Vdana, Frzeriim, Siviis, Trcbizond, and Kaisariyeh.

X fJREEK-ORTHODOX ChURCH .\NI) \i l.V-r.\I.\T

Armeni.\n.s. — The great majority of the Christians of A.sia Minor belong to the so-called Greek-Orthodox or .schismatic patriarchate of Constantinople. In ecclesiastical and ecclesiastico-civil matters they are subject to the patriarch according to the arrangement made on the fall of Constantinople (14.53), variously modified .since then, anil known as the "Capitula- tions" (Baron d'.\vril. La protection des Chretiens dans le Levant, Paris, 1901). The power of the patriarch, both ecclesiastical and civil, regulated by and divided with the National .\ssembly and the (Jreat Synod at Constantinople, is extensive. Of the twelve metropolitans who now compo.se his council three are from western .\.sia Minor (Cyzicus, Nicomedia, and Chalcedon) and are habitually resident in the capital, while the other nine are elective at fixed periods. These three, together with the metropolitan of Heraclea in Thrace, hold the patriarchal seal that is divided into four parts. The Grcck-t Irthodox population, scattered through the islands of the .Archipelago and along the whole coast-line of .\sia Minor, is said to number about one million; in recent times it tends to incre.a-se and is now commercially dominant in the greater part of