BOSTRA
707
BOSTRA
1868 the first distinctively French parish was or-
ganized in Lowell. Italian and Portuguese congre-
gations date from 1872, the former in Boston and
the latter in Gloucester. One congregation in
Gloucester has a respectable section made up of
Gaelic speaking Scotch from Cape Breton and Antig-
onish. There is one German Congregation in Boston,
and one in LawTence; that in Boston, the church of
Holy Trinity, dates from 1836 and has the distinction
of starting in 1844 one of the first parish schools in
New England. There are also Polish, Lithuanian, and
Syrian congregations in Boston. Archbishop Wil-
liams was a quiet, conservative prelate, known best
as an administrator. He was one of the bishops
who attended the Vatican Coimcil and helped largely
to establish the American College at Rome.
The Most Rev. Wtlli.wi Henry O'Connell, .second archbishop, was born 8 December, 18.59, at Lowell, Massachusetts, and received his early edu- cation in its local schools and at St. Charles's College, Ellicott City, Maryland. He then graduated in 1881 at the Jesuit College in Boston and was sent to the American College, Rome, to make his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained there 8 January, 1884, and returned to Boston in 1886. The following years he was stationed as an assistant at Mcdford, and at Boston until 1895 when he was appointed rector of the American College, Rome. He held this office five years, and was then appointed Bishop of Portland, Maine, being consecrated 19 May, 1901. In tlie fall of 1905 the pope sent him as a special envoy to Japan in the interests of the Church. He was decorated by the Mikado and on his return to Rome was warmly commended for the success of his efforts by the pope, who on 26 January, 1906, named him titular Archbishop of Tomi, and coadjutor of Boston. On the death of Archbishop Williams, he inmaediately took possession of the See of Boston.
The Right Rev. John Brady, auxiliary bishop, was bom at Crosserlough, County Cavan, Ireland, 11 April, 1842. He made his first studies in the local diocesan schools and then completed his theological course at the Missionary College of All Hallows, where he was ordained priest for the Diocese of Boston, 4 December, 1864. He served as a curate n Boston and at Newburyport until 1868, when he was made pastor at Amesbury. He continued in this charge until he was nominated Titular Bishop of Alabanda and Auxiliary Bishop of Boston for which see he was consecrated 5 August, 1891.
Soci.\L Progress. — "The foundation of a Catholic Church in Boston could only be surpassed by de- voting a chamber in the Vatican to a Protestant Chapel" said William Tudor, writing in his "Letters on the Eastern States" (Boston, 1819). The records
- how that the notable constructive Catholic social
period of the diocese did not begin until after the Civil War. Though the Catholics formed a quarter of the population of Boston in 1844 and two-fifths in 18.53, not a single one of that faith ever held an elective or appointive public office in the city of Boston. There were only three Catholic teachers in the public schools until 1860. The fir.st Catholic Member of the Common Council, John H. Barry, was elected in 1857, the first alderman, Christopher A. Connor, in 1870, and the first Member of Congress, Patrick A, Collins, in 1882. The changed conditions arc shown by the fact that for ten of the past twenty- three years Boston has been ruled by Catholic Mayors, and public memorials liave been set up amid general approval to the .soldier, Colonel Thomas Cass; the poet journalist, John Boyle O'Reilly: and the statesman, Patrick Andrew Collins. In justice it must be said that much of the progress thus made was owing to Patrick Donahoe, who after the failure of "The Jesuit" contimied in "The Pilot" (begun 2 January, ls;j()) the illastrations of Catholic truth and the de-
fence of Catholic rights. From his publication house
issued for more than half a century a steady output
of Catholic literature that aided materially the edu-
cation of his fellow Catholics and won for the Faith
a general popular appreciation. Other periodicals
and publications in the archdiocese are the weeklies
"The Republic" and the "Sacred Heart Review"
(Boston); "The Catholic Citizen" (Chelsea); "The
Sunday Register" (Lawrence); the monthlies "Don-
ahoe's Magazine" (Boston); "The Index" (Haver-
hill); the French weeklies "Le D^fenseur", "La
Justice" (Holyoke); "L'Etoile", daily and weekly
(Lowell).
Statistics. — Records of the Archdiocese of Boston for 1907 give these figures: 1 archbishop, 1 bishop, 598 priests (4.88 .secular and 110 regular), 194 churches with resident priests, 54 missions with churches, 1 theological seminary with 86 students, 3 colleges for boys, 8 academies for girls, 76 parishes with .schools and an attendance of 48,192 children; 6 orphan asylums with 650 inmates; 24 charitable institutions; the total number of children in Catholic institutions 48,740; 1 infant asylum, 538 inmates; industri.al and reform schools 4, inmates 915; homes 7, inmates 826; brothers 140; religious women 1567; seminary for diocesan clergy 1, students 86; esti- mated Catholic population 8.50,000.
The following religious orders and congregations have foundations in the archdiocese: Connnunities of Men, Augustinians, 16; Franciscans (O. M. C), 5; Jesuits, 32; Marists, 15; Oblates, 22; Congregation of St. Charles Borromeo, 4; Redemptorists, 16; Brothers of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, 25; Brothers of the Christian Schools, 11; Little Brothers of Marj% 19; Xaverian Brothers, 58. Communities of Women, Sisters of St. Ann, Sisters of the Assump- tion, Sisters of Charity (Madison, New Jersey), Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns, Montreal), Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, .Sisters of Charity (Emmitsburg) , Sisters of Charity (Halifax, N. S.), Sisters of the Holy I'nion of the Sacred Hearts, Sisters of St. Dominic (Jersey City, N. J.), Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, Sisters of St. Dominie (Spring- field, Kentucky), Sisters of St. Francis (Allegany, N. Y.), Sisters of St. Francis (Rome), Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Grey Nuns of the Cross (Ottawa, Ontario), Religious of the Sacred Heart, -Miisionury Sisters of the Sacred Heart (Rome), Sisters of St. Joseph, .Sisters of Mary, Sisters of Mercy (Manchester, New Hampshire), Sisters of Notre Dame, of Namur, since 1849, School Sisters of Notre Dame (Baltimore, Maryland), Little Sisters of the Poor, Sisters of Providence, Sisters of the Holy Union of the Sacred Hearts, Filles de J&us, Franciscan Poor Clare nuns. Sisters of the Holy Childhood.
SiiE.\, History of the Cath. Ch. in U. S. (New York, 1886); Idem, Life and Times of the Most Rev. John Carroll (lb., 1888); H.\MON, Vie du Cardinal de Cheierus (Paris, 1858, tr. Walsh, Philadelphia. 1839; tr. Stewart, Boston, 1839); Fitton. Sketches of the Establishment of the Church in New England (Boston, 1S72); Creagh, Laity's Directory (New York, 1822); Catholic Observer (Boston, 1847), files; Memoires de P. De Sales Lalemere (Quebec, 1813); Gazette de (.ucbec (22 October, 1789, supplement): American Cath. Hist. Researches (January. iS89. July, 1902); Finotti. Bibliographia Cath. Americana (New York, 1872); Clarke, Lives of the Deceased Bishops (New York, 1872); The Pilot (Boston, 2 January, 1836-1907), files; Rei'bs, Biog. Cycl. of the Hierarchy of the V. S. (Milwaukee, 1879); U. S. Cath. Magazine (Baltimore), VIII, 102 sqq.; U. S. Cath. Hist. Soc, Hist. Records and Studies (New York, Octo- ber, 1906), IV, parts I and II; Sulltv-an, Catholic Church of New England, Archdiocese of Boston (Boston and Portland. 1895): Leahy in History of Catholic Church in the New England States (Boston, 1899), 1; Memorial Volume, One Hundredth Anniversary Celebration of the Dedication of the Church of the Holy Cross, Boston (Boston, 1904); H. F. Brownson. Orestes A . Broumson's Early Life; Idem, Middle Life tDetroit, 1898-99). Thomas F. Meehan.
Bostra, a titular see of Syria. Bostra, "The fortress", is neither Bosor of Reuben and Moab (Deut., iv, 24; Jos., xx, 8), nor Bosrah of Edom
