LEAD 451 IiEAVENWOBTH
the baptized who do not enjoy a sufficient use of parishes. He was confronted with many difficulties;
reason, or those who, though they have the vtae a widely scattered Catholic population, few priests
of reason have not completed their seventh year, and very little money, but by untiring efforts and
imlesB the law eicpressly states otherwise, thus they financial assistance from the Church Extension Soci-
are obliged to go to confession at least once a year, ety and other sources, a church was erected in
and to make their Easter duty. every mission. The priests and people of the
Peregrini are not bound by the pcuiicular laws diocese entered into the new plan with energy and
of their territory when they are absent from it, zeal, and 54 parochial residences were shortly
imless the laws are personal or imless the viola- added. The scarcity of priests, however, was still
tion injures some one in their own territory; neither the great drawback to the development of the
are they subject to the laws of the place where diocese, and the bishop met this difficulty by mak-
they are, except laws enacted for the public Welfare ing yearly visits to some of the seminaries, and ap-
or those thi^t determine the validity or liceity of pealing to Eastern candidates for the priesthood
legal acts performed there; on the other hand, they to work with him in ministering to the neglected
are bound by thej^eneral ecclesiastical laws, even Catholics of this Western territory. The diocese
if these are not e£^ctive in the locality in which of Lead includes all of the State of South Dakota
they are. Vagi, however, are bound by the general west of the Missouri River and is suffragan to St.
laws and the particular laws of whatever place they Paul, Minnesota.
are in. In the last five years 55 new priests have been
Where there is a doubt of law, laws even invali- added to the diocese, making a total of 75; 52 new
dating and disqualifying do not take effect; if the parishes have been created, 131 churches erected,
doubt is one of fact the ordinary can dispense, if 54 parochial residences acquired and 10 schools
the case is one in which the pope is wont to dis- opened. The religious communities in the diocese
pense. No ignorance of invalidating or disqualify- include the Jesuit and Benedictine Fathers, the
ing laws excuses, unless the contrary is expressly Benedictine Sisters and the Sisters of St. Francis,
stated. An authentic interpretation of a W, if The Catholic population is about 35,200.
restrictive or extensive or explanatory of a doubt. On 26 October of the present year (1921) the
is not retroactive and requires promulgation; an entire community of this district was shocked by
interpretation given in a judgment or in a rescript the murder of Rev. A. B. Belknap, rector of St.
concerning a particular thing has not the force of Patrick's Cathedral at Lead. Father Belknap
law and binds only the persons or affects only the started out at 3:15 in the morning with a man
thing in question. Laws containing an exception who was apparently taking him on a sick call,
to the general law are to be interpreted strictly, and never returned: his body was found by the
Laws passed to provide against a general danger, side of the road three hours later. No motive
bind even if in a particular instance the danger is could be found for the crime, as the relations
absent. A law enacted by a competent authority between Catholics and Protestants throughout the
abrogates an antecedent law if it expressly says State have never been more cordial than at the
BO, or if it is directly contrary to it, or if it deals anew present time, and Father Belknap was not known
with the entire subject matter of the former law; but to have any enemies. He was bom in Jackson
as a rule a general law does not derogate from the County, Iowa, on 4 July, 1801, educated at
statutes of special territories or of individuals, un- Dubuque, Montreal, and Baltimore, and ordained a
less the contrary is expressly stated. In case of priest five years ago. He had been rector of the
doubt an earlier law is not to be presumed revoked, cathedral for the last three years,
and the later law is as far as possible to be read Leavenworth, Diocbsb of ( Leaven worthensis;
in agreement with it. A precept given to any cf. C. E., IX-102c), suffragan of St. Louis. When
individual binds him everywhere, but it cannot be established, 22 May, 1877, this diocese comprised
urged judicially; it ceases with the jurisdiction of the State of Kansas, U. S. A., with the Right Rev.
the person who imposed it, unless it was imposed Louis Mary Fink, O.S.B., as its first bishop. At
by an authentic document or in the presence of his request, ten years later the Holy See divided
two witnesses. See also Code of Canon Law. the diocese into three: Wichita, Concordia, and
C«/€* juT. can., 1-30; VraMnascH-CBBusBN, EpU. jur. can., Leavenworth. Leavenworth was then restricted to
the 43 counties lying east of Republic, Cloud.
Iiead, Diocese of (Leadensis; cf. C. E., IX-08c), Ottawa, Saline, McPherson, Harvev, Sedgwick, ana during the administration of its present bishop has Sumner Counties. The diocese had an area of had a remarkable growth, and has developed into 28,687 sq. miles, with a total population in 1890, a diocese with many well estabhshed parishes where of 901,536. Authorized by the Holy See, Bishop formerly it was almost purely a missionary dis- Fink on 29 May, 1891, took up his residence in trict. On 21 February, 1915, the second bishop of Kansas City, Kan., and for some years the diocese the diocese, Rt. Rev. Joseph F. Busch, D. D., was was named after that city. Apostolic letters dated transferred to St. Cloud, Minn., and Rt. Rey. John 1 July, 1897, further diminished the territory of J. Lawler, D. D., Titular Bishop of Hermopolis the diocese in favor of Concordia and Wichita and Magna, and auxiliary to the Archbishop of St. it now includes only the counties of Anderson, Pam, was appointed to succeed him. He was Osage, Pottawatomie, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Wyan- bom at Rochester, Minn., in 1862 and completed dotte, Jackson, Jefferson, Linn, Lyon, Mar^all, his classical studies at the seminary of St. Francis, Miami, Nemaha, Atchison, Brown, Coffey, Doni- Milwaukee, going from there to Flanders, Belgium, phan, Douglas, Franklin, Johnson, and Leaven- where he studied philosophy and was ordained at worth; an area of 12,594 sq. miles. The greater the University of Louvain in 1885. He was conse- part of the Indian country now known as Kansas crated bishop 19 May, 1910, and succeeded to the was included in the so-called Louisiana Purchase. Diocese of Lead, 29 January, 1916. From the days of the great explorers of the Missis-
Immediately upon his succession to the see, after sippi the whole territory from the Gulf of Mexico
studying the situation, Bi^op Lawler became con- to the Canadian line belonged to France, and was
vinced that the mission system, which had been designated as Upper and Lower Louisiana. The
in operation in the diocese since its foundation, See of Quebec, erected in 1674, had jurisdiction
mMst be supplanted by a system of established over the whole territory until 1763, wheA {iouisiapt^
