Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/525

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SAO THIAGO


467


SAPPA


objects to attract the eye on entering the Bay of Rio (le Janeiro; they rise to a height of 228 feet above the street, but, unfortunately, the narrowness of the thor- oughfare prevents a good impression of the size and beauty of the structure. The three bronze doors, with relief work showing extraordinary artistic detail, and the interior, finished in marble, with fine wall and ceil- ing paintings, are among the best of their kind in Latin-America. The present Archbishop of Sao Se- bastiao do Rio de Janeiro is His Eminence Joaquim Cardinal Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, born 18 Jan., 1850, elected 26 June, 1890, transferred to Rio de Janeiro, 24 July, 1898, and created cardinal on 11 Dec, 1905. (See Brazil, the United States of.)

Allain, Rio (le Janeiro (Paris, 1SS6); Ferreira da Rosa, Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 190.5).

Julian Moreno-Lacalle.

Sao Thiago de Cabo Verde, Diocese of (Sancti Jacdhi Cai'itis Vikidis), JKis the scat of its bishopric on tlic Island of S. Xicolau and comprises the Cape Verde Archipelago, which forms one civil province, and Portuguese Guinea, on the coast of Senegambia, which forms another. Each of these two provinces is under a governor who is appointed by the national Government.

The Province op Cape Verde (Cabo Verde), with the seat of the civil and military Government at Praia, on the Island of S. Thiago, lies between 14° 40' and 17° 14' N. latitude and between 22° 50' and 25° 30' longitude W. of Greenwich. It is made up of ten islands which are divided into the two groups of Barlavento and Sotavento. The Barlavento group consists of the islands of Boa-Vista, Sal, S. Nicolau, Santa Luzia, S. Vicente, and S. Antao; the Sota- vento group, of Maio, S. Thiago, Fogo, and Brava. In the Barlavento group of islands there are two judi- cial districts, one with its seat at Santo Antao, the other at Mindello, on the Island of S. Vicente. The So- tavento group forms but one judicial district, the scat of which is at Praia, on the Island of S. Thiago. Each of these islands is under a municipal council (viuni- cipio), excejit Maio, which belongs to the municiino of Praia, and Santa Luzia, which is still uninhabited.

The province has a population of 142,000, of whom 4718 are whites, 50,033 blacks, and 87,249 mulattoes. The number of foreigners is very small, not exceed- ing 828. The areas and population of the islands are: Boa Vista, 236' 3 square miles, 2691 inhabitants; Sal, 79'2 square miles, 640 inhabitants; S. Nicolau, 94'^^ square miles, 10,462 inhabitants; S. Vicente, 75'. i square miles, 10,086 inhabitants; Santa Luzia, I5J2 square miles, uninhal)itcd; Santo Antao, 302*2 square miles, 33,SoS inhabitants; Maio, 42 scjuare miles, 1895 inhal)itants; S. Thiago, 419'4 scjuare miles, 56,082 inhabitants; Foga, 204-3 square miles, 17,582 inhabitants; Brava, 2Vi square miles, 8970 inhabitants. S. Vicente is an important port and coaling station.

Ecclesiastically the province is divided as follows: Boa Vista, 2 parishes; Sal, 1; S. Nicolau, 2; S. Vi- cente, 1; Santo Antjio, 6; Maio, 1; S. Thiago, 11; Fogo, 4; Brava, 2. Boa Vista contains 3 primary schools; Sal, 2; S. Nicolau, 1 lyceum-seminary and 6 primary schools; S. Vicente, 1 school of navigation, and 7 primary schools; Maio, 1; S. Thiago, 22; Fozo, 7; Brava, 6.

The Province of Portuguese Guinea has an area of about 14,270 square miles, with a population of 300,000. Its capital, Bolama, is the seat of the only judicial district in the province, and of the municipal council. It has also three military districts, Bissau, Cacheu, and Geba. Portuguese Guinea has a vicar- general who is nominated by the bishop of the diocese. It contains six parishes: Bolama, Bissau, Cacheu, Farim, Buba, and Geba. There are a few primary schools, which, however, are poorly attended.


Ethnography. — The population of Cape Verde consists of European and native whites, blacks, and mixed (mestigos). The language is a dialect called crioulo, which is made up from various languages with Portuguese predominating. The people are half civilized, are mild in disposition, not inclined to hard work, and by no means provident, so that whenever the rains fail they are liable to suffer from great scarcity of food. They have little practical ability and are given to pleasure, particularly to dancing; balls, which are organized on the slightest pretext, be- ing their favourite pastime. The arts are not culti- vated; industry and commerce — what little there is — are exclusively in the hands of Europeans. The Catholic rehgion is professed, but its practice is mingled with many superstitions. The average an- nual frequentation of the sacraments is: baptisms, 4872; marriages, 534; confessions and communions, 36,000.

With respect to Guinea little can be said, its popu- lation being still in a condition of savagery. Its an- nual statistics are: baptisms, 330; marriages, 10; con- fessions and communions, 20. Arabic and various African dialects are spoken.

History. — It is known that the Cape Verde Archi- pelago was discovered by the Portuguese in 1460, and Guinea in 1445. In 1553 these territories were erected into a diocese by a Bull of Clement VII dated 31 January. The diocese has been governed by prelates of great learning, some of them also of great virtue, and to them is due all the iinprovcinciit that has been wrought in the condition of C'ape Vcnle. It has no charitable organizations except a Confrater- nity of the Blessed Sacrament on the Island of S. Nicolau, which supports a i)rimary school and supplies the lack of rural banks by lending capital at a low rate of interest. Mitra, Cabido, and some of the parishes enjoy the benefit of legacies made by bene- factors of the diocese, which are liberally adminis- tennl. There are no religious societies. The clergy are subsidized by the State and are exempt from the public burdens of military service, jury duty, etc. It is expected, however, that the legal separation of Church and State, already put in force at the national capital, will very soon be applied in this colony, and the changes which will result are as yet unknown. Josfi Alves Martins.

Sappa, Diocese of (Sappensis, Sappatensis, Zapp.\tensis), in Albania, establislicd in 1062, by Alexander II. In 1491 Innocent VII I joined to it the See of Sarda (Sardoniki), and the united sees were suf- fragans of Antivari until the end of the eighteenth century. The See of Sarda comprised also the Diocese of Daynum (Dagnum, Dagno, Danj; Daynensis), founded as suffragan of Antivari about the second half of the fourteenth century and united with Sarda by Martin V in 1428. The exact number of bishops of Sappa is unknown. The first Bishop of Sappa men- tioned is Paulus about 1370. The most famous bishops of Sappa were George Blanko (1623-35), deliverer of his fatherland from the Turks, and Lazarus Vladanja of Scutari (1746-49). The present, forty-first, Bishop of Sappa is Mgr. James Serecci, suffragan of Scutari. He has his residence at the village of Nensat (Nen- sciati). His diocese comprises about 22,000 inhabi- tants of various creeds, of whom 17,2S0 are Catholics. By the Albanian Council in 1703 the Bishoj) of Sappa obtained some parishes pertaining to the Diocese of Pulati. The ecclesiastical students of this diocese are educated at the seminary of Scutari. The Diocese of Sappa also includes the Franciscan monastery at Trosan (Trosciani), where the Minorites have a "Collegium seraphicum" for their students of phi- losophy.

Farlati-Coleti, Illyricum sacrum, VII (Venice, 1819), 229-32, 271-91; Gams, Series episcoporum ecclesice calholiccB