HONESTAS
450
HONG-KONO
adventurers, mostly of the buccaneering type, with-
out even pretence of legal right. Later the English
claimed possession by prescription, and, because of
Spanish military inferiority, carried the claim.
Naturally there were few, if any, Catholics amongst
the early settlers. Hence the territory for many
years was under no especial ecclesiastical jurisdiction;
only towards the end of the eighteenth century was it
considered as roughly incluiled in the Vicariate of
Trinidad. In IS'.id it was named as part of the new
Vicariate of Jamaica, with the Very Rev. Benito
Ferndndez, a Franciscan, as first vicar Apostolic. In
1848 the mission received its first notable influx of
Catholics; seven thousand of whom, driven from
Yucatan by Indian outbreaks, took refuge in British
Honduras. Some Jesuits, passing through the colony
in 1850, were asked by these Catholics to have priests
sent to them; and as a result of their representations,
the Vicar Apostohc of Jamaica came in person, bring-
ing with him two Jesuit missionaries, who buUt the
first Catholic church in 1851. Very Rev. James Eus-
tace Dupeyron, S.J., succeeded to the Vicariate of
Jamaica, 27 September, 1855, and several times visited
the mission up to 1871, when he resigned his office,
and was succeeded by Very Rev. Joseph WooUett,
S.J., as pro-vicar Apostolic. On 6 Sept., 1877, Very
Rev. Thomas Porter, S.J., was named Vicar Apostolic
of Jamaica, and held the office until Ms death, 29
Sept., 1888. Shortly before his death, it was deter-
mined, in view of the difficulty of communication
between Jamaica and British Honduras, that the
latter territory should be separated from the Vicariate
of Jamaica and erected into a prefecture Apostolic.
Very Rev. Salvatore di Pietro, a Sicilian Jesuit, who
since 18(59, with various interruptions, spent fifteen
years in the mission, and who had three times been its
superior, was named the first prefect Apostolic, 10
June, 1888.
At length, in 1893, in response to the general desire of the Catholics of the territory, British Honduras was made a vicariate, and the prefect Apostolic appointed vicar Apostolic. He was consecrated on 16 April of that year, in Belize, under the title of Bishop of Eurea. Bishop di Pietro laboured in his office with great energy and zeal. Under him, missionary work in the vicariate received a new impetus. At the erection of the vicariate there were nine priests in the mission; the Catholic popvilation was about 12,000, with 1819 children in the Catholic schools. A few months after his consecration, the mission was removed from the care of the English province of the Society of Jesus, and attached to the Missomi province, llore priests came to labour, and new residences were opened. Ten years previously, in January, 1883, some Sisters of Mercy had come to Belize from New Orleans, and had opened a convent for girls; which still exists, with an attendance of about one hvmdred. A select school for boys hafl been liegun in 1887 by Rev. Cassian Gillett, an English Jesuit, to be replaced nine years later by^ the present St. John Berchmans's College, established in 1896 with sixty-one pupils. Both convent and college accommodate a small number of lioarding-scholars, and were intended to serve as means of higher education for the surround- ing republics. In Alay, 189S, the Sisters of the Holy Family (coloured) were brought from New Orleans, and began teaching in Stann Creek, the chief village of the Carib district. At present they numl)er five, and have the care of some three hundred children.
Bishop di Pietro died in Belize, 23 August, 1898, and was succeeded by the present vicar Apostolic, Bishop Hopkins, who was consecrated 4 November, 1899, in St. Louis, Mo., U. S. A. Exceptional diffi- culties attend the work of the ministry. The Catholics of the vicariate are mostly scattered over the territory in small villages. There are no roads. Communica- tion must be made by boat, or on horseback through
the dense tropical bush, often under necessity of
cutting one's way with the machete. Diversity of
language presents another obstacle, as the population
is \'ery heterogenous. It is almost impossible even to
estimate with anything like accuracy the racial pro-
portions of the population. Perhaps rather more
than two-fifths are of more or less mixed Indian descent ;
another two-fifths negroes or the product of misce-
genation; of the remainder, some three thousand are a
mongrel black people, improperly styled Caribs; three
hundred or so are whites; the rest are unclassified
and unclassifiable. The Indians are chiefly Mayas,
descendants of the ancient Toltccs, copper-coloured,
with high cheekbones and almond eyes. Many of
them speak Spanish — of a sort; amongst the blacks a
barbarized English prevails, under the linguistic title
of "Creole", quite unintelligible to English-speaking
people. The Caribs speak an African dialect, into
which, in a curious manner, many French words have
crept.
Poverty is the universal condition; owing, in part, to native laziness antl want of thrift ; in part, to govern- mental neglect in opening up the superb resources of the colony, and to an almost total absence of local manufactiu-es. There are comparatively few pagans, but pagan superstitions abound, and obeah rites are to some small extent carried on in secret. Concubinage obtains very widely, the percentages of legitimate and illegitimate births being nearly equal. Yet, in despite of these and many otlier hindrances, a great deal is accomplished yearly in the vicariate. In 1908, upon estimate, there were 1200 baptisms, 320 marriages, 500 confirmations, 40,000 confessions, 38,000 Holy Communions. There are, in the whole vicariate, twenty sodalities with a membership of about eight hundred. The League of the Sacred Heart was es- tablished in British Honduras in 1888, and has since grown steadily. In 1895 the associates nmnbered 1200, and at present are estimated at some 4500. There is absolute freedom of worshif) in the colony. Although formerly the Anglican Church was estab- lished by law, there is at present no established re- ligion. The educational system, all things considered, is very good; Government grant-in-aid being divided impartially amongst public .schools under the charge of various denominations, according to the class and attendance of each school, with full liberty of religious instruction acconled to each denomination in its proper schools. The grant to Catholic schools for 1908 was over .$7,500 gold. There are about 2300 children in the Catholic public schools. Except those of Belize, which are under the care of the Sisters of Mercy, and tlio.se of Stann Crock, these schools are taught by lay teachers, wlio have qualified in a govern- ment examination. The vicariate depends for its priests and religious teachers chiefly upon the United States. It has no seminary or novitiate of its own. The material support of the vicariate, since the con- tributions of its own people arc entirely imxleijuate, is also derived from the outside world, principall3' from the benefactions of the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Faith, and from various charities sent from the LTnited States.
William T. Kane.
Honestas Publica. See Public Decency.
Hong-Kong, ^'ICARI ate Apostolic op. — The island of Hong-Kong was ceded by the Chinese Government to Great Britain in January, 1841, under some restric- tions; the cession was completed by the Treaty of Nan-king of August, 1842. A prefect" .\postolic under the Bishop of Ulacao was nominated by Gregory XXI (1846) ; a vicariate Apostolic was created in 1874, and intrusted (4 Oct.) to the Seminary of Foreign Mis- sions of Milan, established in that city since 31 July, 1S,")0 (.see China). The first vicar ,\postolic was Gio- vanni Timoleone Raimondi, titular Bishop of Acan-
