Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 16.djvu/56

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FIJI


40


FISCHER


the freedom of the individual. The Catholic con- science guards against the State being unduly exalted at the expense of the family. The latest activity of the eugenics movement was the First International Congress held in London in 1912. It was divided into four chief divisions: (1) The bearing upon eu- genics of biological research, (2) the bearing upon eugenics of sociological and historical research, (3) the bearing upon eugenics of legislation and social cus- toms, (4) the consideration of the practical applica- tions of eugenic principles. See Marriage ; Mendel, Mendelism.

Galton, Hereditary Genius (Ix>ndon, 1869 and 1892); Idem, Human FaciiUy (London, 1883) ; Idem, tiecord of Family Facilities (London. 1884); Idem, Natural Inheritance (London, 1889); Galton and Schusteb, Noteworthy Families (London, 1906);


Galton. Essays in Eugenics (London. 1909); Idem, Memories of My Life (London, 1908); Saleeby, Parenthood and Race Cul- ture (London, 1909) ; Idem, The Methods of Race Regeneration (London, 1911); Thompson, Heredity (London, 1908); Bateson, The Methods and Scope of Genetics (London, 1908) ; Idem, Mendel's Principles of Heredity (London. 1909); Peakbon, National Life from the Standpoint of Science (London, 1905) ; Idem, The Scope and Importance to the State of the Science of National Eugenics (London, 1907) ; Crackenthorpe, Population and Progress (London, 1907) ; Rentoul, Race-Culture or Race-Suicide (London, 1906); Ellis, The Problem of Race Regeneration (London, 1911); Newsholme, The Declining Birth Rate (London, 1911); Forel, Die sexuelle Frage (Munich, 1907), tr. Marshall (London, 1910); Day, Marriage, Divorce and Morality (London. 1912), Gerhard, Marriage and Parenthood (New York, 1910); Idem; The Church and Eugenics (London and New York, 1912); Idem in Catholic World (June. 1912); Slater in Irish Theol. Quart. (October, 1911); De liceitate vasectomiw in American Eccl, Rev. (1910-13); The Eugenics Review.

Thomas J. Gerhard.


Fiji, V1CAR1.A.TE Apostolic op, comprising the islands belonging to the Fiji Archipelago. This archipelago forms the central portion of Western Polynesia, and extends between 15° and 20° South latitude and between 170° and 180° West longitude. It includes about 2.50 islands, of which some 90 are inhabited; its total land area is 743.5 square miles, while the population in 1911 was 139,.541 (3707 Euro- peans; 87,096 Fijians; 42S6 Indiana; the remainder of other eastern races). The islands were discovered by Captain Cook in 1773. There was, however, little European intercourse with them until the arrival of Wesleyan missionaries in 1S35, and the first thorough survey was that of the United States Exploring Ex- pedition of 1S40. After long internecine troubles the government of the islands was unconditionally ceded by the native chiefs to Great Britain in 1874. The Fijians belong to the Melanesian (Papuan) stock, much crossed with Polynesian strains, and are in many ways superior (physically and mentally) to other branches of the same famOy. Their religion, which is being rapidly displaced by Christianity, is a species of ancestor-worship; the spirits of their chiefs, heroes, and other ancestors are included among the gods of subordinate rank, although they are es- teemed to be still hable to human passions and even to death. Besides the malicious deities (of whom there are many), the natives have four classes of gods. While the most widely worshipped deity is Ove, who is regarded as the maker of aU men, Ndengei un- doubtedly occupies the most impressive place in the native pantheon. This deity is worshipped under the form of a serpent, and to him spirits proceed imme- diately after death for purification or to receive sen- tence. To reach the judgment seat of Ndengei, how- ever, the spirit must pass an ever-vigilant giant armed with a mighty axe, and if wounded it may not present itself before Ndengei. Whether the spirit escapes unscathed or not is unfortunately ascribed to a stroke of luck (not to previous conduct during hfe), and to this want of any just notion of rehgious or moral obUgation may be traced the many revolting practices which were until late years almost univer- sally cultivated among the imchri-stianized natives (cannibahsm, the putting to death of parents when they were advanced in years, suicide, immolation of wives at the funerals of their husbands, human sacri- fices, etc.).

The Fiji Islands were included in the territory of the old \icariate Apostolic of Central Oceania, created by Propaganda in 1S42. The first Cathohc mission in Fiji was foimded in 1844, and on 10 March, 1803, the territory was erected into a prefecture Apostolic. On .5 May, 1887, the present vicariate was establislied and entrusted to the Mariat fathers. The first and present vicar Aposloli(! is (he Right Hev. .Julian Vidal, D.D., S.M., titular Bishop of Abydos (conse-


crated 27 Dec, 1887). Catholic missions have been already established on the islands Viti Levu, Ovalau, Vanua Levu, Tavenui, Kavavu, and Rotuma, the official residence of the vicar Apostohc being at Suva on the first mentioned island. The latest statistics for the vicariate show: 30 priests (Marist fathers), who tend 18 central stations and 273 villages; 11 Little Brothers of Mary (Marist brothers), who have charge of a boarding and day school at Suva, of a sem- inary and college at Cawaci, and of an English school for natives at Rewa; 24 European and 31 native Sisters of the Third Order of Mary (with 14 houses; novitiate at Sole\'u), who conduct the majority of schools for girls; 8 sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny (2 houses), who conduct the parochial; school at Suva; 10 Sisters of the Holy Name of Mary (Marist Sisters), who have charge of the schools and orphanage at Le\'uka, a school at Ba, and assist the Marist broth- ers in the seminary and college at Cawaci; 12 native brothers (novitiate at Loretto) in 4 communities. The English college at Cawaci for the training of catechists and the children of the chiefs has on its roU 42 catechists, 80 boys, and 12 girls. In the central stations the Marist brothers and sisters teach read- ing, wTiting, etc., as well as religion, to 500 boys and 450 girls, while in the villages 315 catechists give ele- mentary instruction to about 20(X) children. The churches and chapels number 65, and the total Cath- olic population is about 12,000 (300 Europeans). A station for lepers is conducted on Makogai Island by one Marist father and two sisters of the Third Order of Mary.

Australasian Catholic Directory (Sydney, 1912) ; Thomson, The Fijians (London, 1908); Piolet, Missions cath. fran(., IV (Paris, 1902), 183-220.

MOIRA K, COYLE.

Fischer, Antonius, Archbishop of Cologne and cardinal, b. at JiiUch, 30 May, 1840; d. at Neuenahr, 30 July, 1912. The son of a professor, he was edu- cated at the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium at Co- logne, making his theological studies at the University of Bonn and the Academy of Miinster. Ordained priest, 2 Sept., 1863, he was for twenty-five years pro- fessor of religion at the Gymnasium at Essen. In 1886 he received his doctorate at the University of Tubingen, his thesis being "De salute infidelium". He was preconized titular Bishop of Juhopolis, 14 Feb., 1889, and was thenceforth associated in the administration of the Diocese of Cologne iis assistant to the auxiliarj' Bishop Baudri, then very old. \\'hen Baudri died (29 June, 1893), Fischer succeeded him; in 1901 tlie See of Cologne became vacant, by the death of Mgr. Theophilus Siraar, and Fischer was ap- pointed archbishop (26 Nov., 1002). On 23 June, 1903, Pius X made him a cardinal. During the ten years of his episcopate Cardinal Fischer consecrated in the diocese several hundred churches and more