RHODE
22
RHODE
ever>'thing but Roman Catholics and real Christians.
In Providence Roger Wilhams was made pastor of
the first church, the beginning of the i^reseut First
Baptist Church. In 1739 theie were thu-t3^-tliree
churches in the colony; twelve Baptist, ten Quaker,
six Congregational or Presbj-terian, and five Epis-
copahan. It is said that in IGSO there was not one
Catholic in the colony, and for a long period their
number must have been small. In 1S2S there were
probably less than 1000 Catholics in the state. In
that year Bishop Fenwick of Boston assigned Rev.
Robert Woodlej- to a "parish" which included all
of Rhode Island and territory to the east in Mas-
sachusetts. A church was built in Pa^\lucket in
1829. Father Woodley in 1828 acquired in Newport
a lot and building which was used for a church and
school. In 1830 Rev. John Corry was assigned to
Taunton and Pro\ndence, and built a church in Taun-
ton in that year. The first Catholic church in Provi-
dence was built in 1837 on the site of the present
cathedral. At that time Father Corry was placed
in charge of Providence alone. From 1844 to 1846,
the mission of Rev. James Fitton included Woon-
socket, Pawtucket, Crompton, and Newport, a
series of districts extending the length of the state.
In 1846, Ne^vport was made a parish by itself.
Woonsocket received a pastor at about the same time;
Pawtucket in 1847; Warren in 1851; Pascoag in
1851; East Greenwich in 1853; Georgiaville in 1855.
These parishes were not confined to the limits of the
towns or villages named, but included the surround-
ing territory. In 1844 the Diocese of Hartford was
created, including Rhode Island and Connecticut,
with the episcopal residence at Providence. At this
time there were only six priests in the two states.
In 1872 the Diocese of Hartford was divided and the
Diocese of Providence created, including all Rhode
Island, and in Massachusetts, the counties of Bristol,
Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket, also the towns of
Mat tape i.s.set, Marion, and Wareham in the County
of Plymouth. In 1904 the Diocese of Fall River was
created, leaving the Diocese of Providence coexten-
sive with the state. After 1840, and especially
following the famine in Ireland, the Irish increased
with great rapidity and long formed the bulk of the
Catholic population. The growth of cotton manu-
factures after the Civil War drew great numbers of
Canadian Catholics. In more recent years Itahans
have settled in Rhode Island in great numbers, and
many Polish Catholics. Included in the Catholic
population are approximately 65,000 Canadians and
French, 40,000 Italiaas, 10,000 Portuguese, 8000
Poles, and 1000 Armenians and Syrians. According
to a special government report on the census of re-
ligious bodies of the United States, 76.5 per cent, of
the ptjpulation of the City of Providence are Catho-
lics. There are 199 priests in the diocese, including
about 47 Cana^lian and French priest s, 8 Italian, and
5 Polish priests. Thirty parishes support parocliial
Bchfxjls. Under Catholic auspices are two orphan
asylums, one infant asylum, two hospitals, one home
for the Jiged p<K>r, one industrial school, one house
for working bovs, and two hou.ses for working girls.
The first Catliolic governor of the State was James H. Higginw, a Democrat, who was elected for two terms, 1907, 1908. He was succeeded by Aram J. Pothier, a Catholic, and a liepublican.
The Stat« census of 1905 giv(» the following statistica of religious denominations: ^ , .. Mkmberb Chuiicheh
Catholic 200,000 76
Protestant Episcopal 15,441 68
Baptist 14,761 75
Methodiflt Episcopal 5,725 45
Ojngregationalist 9,738 42
Lutheran 2,21 7 12
Free Baptiat 3,300 30
Members Churches
Presbj^erian 993 4
Universalist 1,166 9
Unitarian 1,000 4
Seventh Day Baptist 1,040 5
Friends 915 7
Value of property owned b.y certain denomina- tions is stated as follows: Protestant Episcopal, $1,957,518; Congregational, $1,417,089; Baptist, $1,124,348; Methodist Episcopal, $624,900; Uni- tarian, $280,000; Universalist, $259,000; Free Baptist, $242,000.
Education. — Provision was made for a public school in Ne^-port in 1640. State supervision of public schools was not inaugurated until 1828. The number of pupils enrolled in public schools in 1907 was 74,065, and the number of teachers employed, 2198. The State maintains an agricultural college, a normal school, a school for the deaf, a home and school for dependent children not criminal or vicious, and makes provision for teaching the blind. Schools are supported mainly by the towns wherein they are located. The State appropriates annually $120,000, to be used only for teachers' salaries, and to be divided among the towns and cities in proportion to school population, but no town may receive its allotment without appropriating at least an equal amount for the same purpose. Another appropriation is paid to towns maintaining graded high schools. This appropriation in 1910 was $26,500. The total amount expended on public schools in 1907, exclusive of per- manent improvements, was $1,800,325, the number of school buildings was 528; and the valuation of school property, $6,550,172. The number of paro- chial school pupils in 1907 was 16,254; the total attendance of Catholic parochial schools and acade- mies in 1910 was 17,440. These schools cost about $1,500,000, and their annual maintenance about $150,000. The average monthly expense per pupil in the public schools in 1907 was stated as $3.14. Allowing ten months for the school year, on the basis of that cost, the 10,254 parochial school pupils, if attending the public schools, would have cost the State and towns $510,375. Providence is the seat of Brown University, a Baptist institution founded in 1764. The corporation consists of a Board of Trus- tees and a Board of Fellows. A majority of the trustees must be Baptists and the rest of the trustees must be chosen from three other prescribed Prot- estant denominations. A majority of the fellows, including the president, must be Baptists; "the rest indifferently of any or all denominations". It is provided that the places of professons, tutors and all officers, the president alone excepted, shall be free and open to all denominations of Protestants. The total enrollment of the university for the academic year 1909-10 was 967, including the graduate depart- ment and the W^omen's College.
Legislation Affecting Religion. — In 1657 the Assembly denied the demand of the commissioners of the United Colonies that Quakers should be banished from Rhode Island, and later passed a law that mili- tary service should not be exacted from those whose niligious belief forbade the bearing of arms. The Charter of 1663 guaranteed freedom of conscience, and the colonial laws prohibited compulsory support of any form of worship. In 1663, Charles II wrote to the Assembly declaring that all men of civil conversa- tion, obedient to magistrates though of differing judgments, might be admitted as freemen, with liberty to choose and be chosen to offic(>, civil and military. On this communication it was voted that all those who should take an oath of allegiance to Charles II and were of competent estate, should be admitted as freemen; but none should vote or hold office until admitt(;d by vote of the assembly. In the volume of laws printed in 1719, appeared a
