principally in purchasing and holding property, outside of the Treaty ports, without the French passport.
The Legal Status of Catholic Missionaries.
By a decree of March 15, 1899, the foreign Catholic clergy in China were granted certain privileges of rank when visiting officials. The instrument in question did not confer upon them effective official rank, but enabled them to call upon officials and to be received in a manner befitting the various degrees of the Catholic hierarchy. Thus, there was an equality of rank between bishops and viceroys or governors, between vicars-general or deans and provincial judges, treasurers, and taoutais, and between other foreign priests and prefects, &c. The bishops were to give to the viceroy or governor a list of the priests specially entrusted with treating business matters with the officials.
The decree, which positively excluded native priests, changed but little the existing custom. It settled chiefly a question of etiquette. In dealing with Catholic mis- sionaries the courtesy of many high Mandarins goes far beyond the rules laid down in the protocol. Friendly visits are requested and paid, and these often serve the purpose of avoiding frichon and of bringing to a close protracted lawsuits. The decree was can- celled on April 10, 1908.
THE CATHEDRAL AT HONGKONG.
The first Roman Catholic church in Hongkong was that begun in 1842 on a site in Wellington Street granted by the Government. It was destroyed by the fire which in 1859 broke out in the neighbourhood of Queen's Road and Stanley Street. The present cathedral, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, was built by the late Mgr. Raimond, a former Vicar Apostolic of Hongkong, and was opened in 1888. It is a cruciform structure, with a low tower at the inter-section, and is an example of conti- nental Gothic. It occupies a commanding site in the Caine Road, on the western slope of the lovely ravine known as Glenealy. Near the main building stands a handsome Gothic tower, containing a peal of bells, added several years later. The principal features of the interior are the beautiful altars. That dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, presented by the Braga family of Portuguese settlers, is of Italian marble, the centre being occupied by a painting from the Academic School of Belle Arti, Milan. The altar, dedicated to St. Joseph, was presented by King Victor Emmanuel II, grandfather of the present King of Italy, and bears the arms of the Savoya Royal Family. The main altar, commemorating the Immaculate Conception, is of Italian marble, which contrasts with the Chinese marble of which the altar rails are made. The Blessed Sacrament altar has been newly decorated by the members of the Hongkong branch of the Apostleship of Prayer. The memory of St. Francis Xavier, the great pioneer missionary of the Far East, is commemorated in another small altar of Italian workmanship. The bishop's throne is of Venetian
PREMISES OF LA SOCIÉTÉ DES MISSIONS ETRANGÉRES, HONGKONG.
work, and the organ, a fine, though small, instrument, was brought from Italy and presented to the cathedral some eighteen years ago by the Portuguese community. The pictures representing the stations of the Cross were painted in Rome. The Bishop of Tavia and Vicar Apostolic of Hongkong is the Rt. Rev. Mgr. D. Pozzoni. The Provincial Apostolic and Procureur- General is the Very Rev. Fr. P. de Maria, and the Apostolic Mission Rector is the Rev. Fr. P. Gabardi. The assistants attached to the cathedral are the Rev. Frs. D. Arvatti, A. M. Leon, and F. Cheon.
THE SOCIÉTÉ DES MISSIONS ETRANGÉRES.
The Societe des Missions Etrangeres, founded in Paris, in 1658, for the propagation of the faith in pagan countries, had, in 1892, already sent 1.968 missionaries to the Far East. At the outset their work was arduous in the extreme, and no fewer than 67 suffered death on account of their religious beliefs. In IQ06 there were 1,420 missionaries of the Society engaged in spreading the Gospel. Of these, 36 were bishops in charge of 32 vicariates or dioceses, and they were helped in their evangelisation work by 739 native priests and 2,727 catechists. The Society, in its various missions, then had 5.478 churches or chapels ; 42 seminaries in which 2,247 boys were being educated for the priesthood ; 3,955 schools with 119,441 children; 337 orphanages with 21,461 orphans entirely supported by the Society ; 474 dispensaries ; and 112 hospitals or leper asylums. The Society has the entire charge of the Roman Catholic Church in Japan (four dioceses) ; Korea (one vicariate apostolic) ; Manchuria (two vicariates apostolic) ; Western and South China (seven vicariates) ; Thibet (one vicariate) ; French Indo-China (eight vicari- ates) ; Cambodia (one vicariate) ; Burma (two vicariates) ; French and British India (four dioceses) ; and Siam (one vicariate). Some of the results obtained during the last ten years will be seen from the following figures : — Years. Adult Pagans converted. Pagan children baptized. ... .'.. ,826 ,448
,700 .363
,003 '55.312
,112 .958 I90I .472 ,790
.587 .934
.321 .736
.470 ,871
,880 .138
.476 .899 Totals ... ,847 .455.549 As will be gathered from such facts as these the sphere of influence exercised by this great missionary enterprise is a large one. The possibilities of the work are enormous. Naturally, however, the question of organisation is an important and diflicult one. There is a general procuration in Hongkong, and there are secondary pro- curations in Shanghai, Saigon, and Singapore. Here all the administrative work is done and material assistance is sent to the mission- aries in the field. The Society has also at Pokfolura, Hongkong, a sanatorium for those of their workers who have broken down in health, and a Maison d'Etudes, to which is attached one of the best-equipped printing oflices in the Far East. Here books are printed, from type cast in the establish- ment, in almost all the languages of the Orient. The Very Rev. Father L. Robert, Procureur-General of the Society, resides in Caine Road, at the headquarters of the mission in Hongkong.
THE RT. REV. DOMINICO POZZONI, Roman Catholic Bishop of Tavia, and Vicar Apostolic of Hongkong, was born in December, 1861, at Paderno d'Adda, in the province of Como, Italy. He arrived in Hongkong as a missionary in 1885, and spent twenty years in the southern portion
