Congregation De Propaganda Fide Research Articles

Overcoming the Patronage System: Propaganda Fide and Its Portuguese Patronage Documents on China in the Early Modern Period

From its foundation in 1622, the Congregation de Propaganda Fide held supreme jurisdiction over all missionary activities of the Catholic Church at the global level, with authority coming directly from the pope. Its main goals were the expansion of the Catholic faith, the reaffirmation of papal spiritual primacy, and the promotion of Indigenous clergy throughout the world, which put Propaganda Fide in direct competition with secular rulers who also wanted to control missionary activities in their overseas territories. This article will examine one such conflict, namely that regarding Portugal and its royal patronage system in China. The Historical Archive of Propaganda Fide in the Vatican City holds extensive material concerning Portuguese patronage and China, which has remained relatively unknown and understudied. Through an examination of several of the most significant documents, such as the formal terms sent by the Portuguese court to the Holy See, the response of Propaganda Fide, and the final declaration of the Holy See, which would become the cornerstone for all future decisions over the patronage system, it is suggested that these negotiations about China are in fact central to a wider shift in global Catholic policy and politics in the field of missionary activity.

Le risorse finanziarie della Diocesi di Jassy al tempo del vescovo Domenico Jaquet, OFM Conv. (1895-1903)

The present study presents briefly the main economic problems the Diocese of Iasi, which was founded on June 27, 1884, had been facing. At the end of the nineteenth century, the rapid increase of the number of Catholics led the diocese leaders to build new larger churches and enlarge the old ones. In this sense, the second bishop of Iaşi, Mons. Dominic Jaquet, a Swiss native, has sought funding in various Western countries. This bishop also took close care of the good progress of the Catholic schools within the diocese of Iaşi (the diocesan and Franciscan seminary, the Cipariu Institute, the Primary School of Iaşi, etc.). In order to cover all these expenses, Bishop Jaquet asked for financial help from both his church superiors and civil authorities. Thus, if the main financial support came from the superiors of the Congregation De Propaganda Fide in Rome, other aid for Catholics in Moldova came from France, through the Association Propagation de la Foi, which had its headquarters in Lyon. Also, the help of the Catholics from the diocese of Iaşi came both from the Romanian government and the one from Vienna.

Inquisition and Empire: The Holy Office of Goa between Padroado and Propaganda Fide (1666-1681)

Durante la disputa entre Portugal y la Santa Sede sobre los derechos del Patronato (Padroado real) en Asia, la Inquisición desempeñó un papel secundario en las alegaciones legales de la Corona. Sin embargo, en el contexto local de las controversias con los vicarios apostólicos enviados por la Congregación de Propaganda Fide, los sacerdotes y misioneros del Padroado portugués vieron en el Santo Oficio un instrumento para defender los derechos de la Corona, deteniendo y excomulgando en nombre del tribunal. En este artículo se analizan las expectativas de los agentes imperiales en cuanto a la posibilidad de que la Inquisición pudiera ser un instrumento para reclamar derechos jurisdiccionales sobre el territorio a la Corona y las contrariedades que experimentaron ante la gestión de los acontecimientos por parte de los inquisidores.

Uneasy Agents of Tridentine Reforms: Catholic Missionaries in Southern Ottoman Hungary and Their Local Competitors in the Early Seventeenth Century

Abstract From the 1570s onwards, the territories of southern Ottoman Hungary with their amalgam of Orthodox, Catholics, Reformed, Antitrinitarians, and Muslims of various ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, were the focus of Rome–directed Catholic missionary and pastoral endeavors. Prior to the establishment of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide in 1622, several Jesuits had already been active in the region and sought to implement Tridentine reforms in this religiously, linguistically, and legally-diverse setting. The activity of the Jesuits, however, was complicated by the presence of the Bosnian Franciscans, who were legally Ottoman subjects, and with whom the Jesuits were in a permanent competition over the jurisdiction of certain missionary territories. Furthermore, the Jesuits also had to contend with the local authority and influence of Orthodox priests and Ottoman judges (kadis), who, in several instances, proved to be more attractive “alternatives” to many Catholics than the Catholic authorities themselves. Drawing primarily on Jesuit and Franciscan missionary reports, this article examines how this peculiar constellation of local power relations, and the ensuing conflicts among missionaries, Orthodox clergymen, and Ottoman judges, influenced the way(s) in which Tridentine reforms were implemented in the area. In particular, this study addresses those cases where various jurisdictional disputes between Jesuits and Bosnian Franciscans on the one hand, and Jesuits and Orthodox priests on the other, resulted in contestations about the administration and validity of the sacraments and certain rituals, and led Jesuits, Franciscans, and even Roman authorities to “deviate” from the Tridentine norm.

Il martirioin odium fideidalla realtà missionaria alla burocrazia romana: note di ricerca sul protonotario apostolico di Propaganda Fide (XVII secolo)

Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, martyrdom in odium fidei became a stimulus for the missionary vocation, often so exasperated that the superiors of the missionary orders had to moderate it. At the same time, the increase in canonizations (the possible final outcome of the martyr’s experience) is also placed under the control of the Roman authorities. So, the need to control the actual reality of the martyrs was born, but it took place above all in the mission lands where often there was a lack of bishop’s authorities to instruct the processes. The Congregation de Propaganda Fide (founded in 1622) proposes to depute an apostolic protonotary, pertaining to it, for the authentication of the acts of the martyrs and the testimonies gathered through the missionaries scattered throughout the world. This initiative, however, must be in agreement with the competences of the other Roman offices responsible for questions of holiness, especially the Congregation of Rites. The result is a compromise according to which, at the present stage of our knowledge, Propaganda provides information on martyrs in mission land. The essay reconstructs the terms of this compromise at the institutional level and provides an overview of the spread of missionary martyrdom that derives from the collection of Propaganda information at the world level.

The Missio sui Iuris : To Be or Not To Be a Particular Church (c. 371 §1): Historical Development of the Missio sui Iuris in Mission Territories (1896–2002) and the Praxis of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Erecting Them

Towards the end of the 19 th century, the then-Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide began erecting the Missiones sui Iuris or independent missions as an alternative viable structure in areas where the mission diocese, apostolic vicariate or apostolic prefecture could not be initiated for various reasons. Although such a structure existed in limited circumstances from the time the Congregation was founded in 1622, it was after the First Vatican Council that the structure of an independent mission became more prevalent. By the early 20 th century, the yearbooks of the Holy See, the Gerarchia Cattolica and the Annuario Pontificio , began listing independent missions initially to with the apostolic prefectures, and later as a separate category of particular church structure. An apparent anomaly is the historical reference published for decades in the Annuario Pontificio attributing this structure to the decree Excelsum of September 12, 1896. This decree from the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide was addressed specifically to territories under the jurisdiction of the Oriental Churches in the Middle East, and it was never explicitly cited in any of the documentation of the general congregations of the 19 th and early 20 th centuries where independent missions were erected. The Missio sui Iuris was omitted in the 1917 Code of Canon Law , but both Benedict XV and Pius XI recognized the structure as one of four structures in mission territories. While the independent missions were omitted in the 1983 Code of Canon Law , in the 1980’s and until 2002 the structure was again employed for special missionary circumstances. Today there are eight independent missions listed in the Annuario Pontificio , and these structures continue to follow the criteria originally established for them: an ecclesial structure erected from a previous territory, with explicit boundaries, under the care of a religious community or other diocese, responding to a missionary exigency and headed by a superior nominated by the Holy See, under the aegis of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Editor’s Introduction

Editor’s Introduction Kurt Martens* Current or recent legislative initiatives at the universal level sometimes interfere with academic planning and call for changes of publication plans. This second issue of The Jurist for 2015 offers proof of that. Some of the planned contributions are pushed back to the first issue of 2016 to make room for a first set of commentaries offering an analysis of the revised procedural laws for the declaration of nullity of marriages. On September 8, 2015, His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, the Cardinalis Patronus of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, gave the keynote address during the conference “The Synod on the Family: Addressing the Instrumentum Laboris” at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, OH. The text was first published in the volume From the Beginning: The Mission and Vocation of the Family in the Contemporary World, ed. Michael G. Sirilla (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2015), and is reprinted here in The Jurist with permission of the organizers and the author. The latter focuses on the canonical questions regarding the proposed pastoral care of the faithful who are divorced and have attempted marriage as proposed in the Instrumentum laboris for the Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops celebrated in October 2015. The second contribution in this issue comes from His Excellency, Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, Archbishop for the Military Services, USA. His contribution is the written text of the Twelfth Annual James H. Provost [End Page 269] Memorial Lecture given at the School of Canon Law of The Catholic University of America on March 19, 2015. The author spoke on the pastoral dimension of the office of papal representatives, an office he held from 2001 until his appointment in 2007 as Archbishop for the Military Services. Before that time, Archbishop Broglio attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy (1979–1983) and had been in diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1983. The missio sui iuris is not a well-known structure. In his extensive study, Joseph McCabe shows how, toward the end of the 19th century, the then-Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide began erecting the missiones sui iuris or independent missions as an alternative viable structure in areas where the mission diocese, apostolic vicariate or apostolic prefecture could not be initiated for various reasons. Although such a structure existed in limited circumstances from the time the Congregation was founded in 1622, it was after the First Vatican Council that the structure of an independent mission became more prevalent. The missio sui iuris was omitted in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, but both Benedict XV and Pius XI recognized the structure as one of four structures in mission territories. While the independent missions were omitted in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, in the 1980’s and until 2002 the structure was again employed for special missionary circumstances. Those consecrated to God by profession of the evangelical counsels sometimes behave in a way that causes scandal and impedes the Church’s mission of salvation. This may be so serious that it leads to the member’s dismissal from his/her religious institute. The 1983 Code of Canon Law has two categories for dismissing religious from an institute: ipso facto dismissal (c. 694) and ab homine dismissal, the latter being sub-divided into the mandatory dismissal process (c. 695) and the facultative dismissal process (c. 696). John Chrysostom Kozlowski, OP, focuses on the mandatory dismissal process as it applies to religious institutes (cc. 695, 698–702). He traces first the origins of the mandatory dismissal process from the 1917 Code of Canon Law to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, and then presents a two-part analysis of the notion of mandatory dismissal. With the promulgation of the motu proprio Mitis iudex Dominus Iesus for the Latin Church and the motu proprio Mitis et misericors Iesus for the Eastern Catholic Churches, Pope Francis simplified and changed the [End Page 270] procedure for the declaration of nullity of marriages. The new legislation is in effect since December 8, 2015. For an academic journal such as The Jurist, it is extremely important to...

Rome in Australia: The Papacy and Conflict in the Australian Catholic Missions, 1834–1884 (review)

Reviewed by: Rome in Australia: The Papacy and Conflict in the Australian Catholic Missions, 1834–1884 John Neylon Molony Rome in Australia: The Papacy and Conflict in the Australian Catholic Missions, 1834–1884. By Christopher Dowd, O.P. 2 vols. (Boston: Brill. 2008. Pp. xxvi, 300 (vol. 1); viii, 301–658 (vol. 2). $252.00. ISBN 978-9-004-16529-8.) As one of the last outposts of white civilization laid down forcefully among an indigenous people, the early development of Australia deserves to be treated with gravity. In the growth of a specifically Australian society, the Catholic Church played a significant role and, although others have studied its development in early colonial Australia, none has done so on such a wide canvass as Christopher Dowd. His work is eminently scholarly in that the sources, both primary and secondary, are extensive and rich, and a thorough use has been made of them in English, Italian, and Latin. The writing stands up for clarity and precision. The author remains balanced and astute in his judgments, despite the justifiable temptation to scorn some of the actors. There is nothing narrow or pedantic about the theme and the treatment given to it. One figure—John Bede Polding, the Benedictine first bishop of Sydney— rightly tends to dominate the early story. With his dignity and integrity intact, he stands amidst a goodly company of popes, high-ranking Roman bureaucrats, prelates (both Irish and English), drunkards, liars, opportunists, sycophants, and scoundrels (some wearing mitres), as well as devoted missionaries and saintly nonentities. At times vacillating, slipshod, and sentimental, Polding was not mean and petty, and he never hated. His greatest weakness, which almost brought him down, was his stubborn loyalty to the Benedictine Order. Polding dreamt a noble dream in which Benedict’s sons would be the founders and custodians of a high civilization in Australia, as they had been in the shadowed centuries after Rome fell and Europe was born. They were the midwives of that renewed civilization, and Polding dreamt that they would be so again in Australia. Thus he petitioned Rome, fruitlessly, to ensure that Benedictine monks would always be chosen as archbishops of Sydney. In the end, but rapidly, a lack of Benedictines caused the dream church to fail. No one could rightly grieve that the Australian church failed to be become a Benedictine church. The fading of a Benedictine presence with all the treasures it could have woven into the fabric of a young nation was the true sorrow. This work has a universal value because it deals with an important theme, which is played out on an international stage. Rome, London, Dublin, Melbourne, and Sydney mingle, and meddle with, the Church in Australia, even with obscure hamlets out in the bush such as Bungendore. The [End Page 645] Australian hierarchy was the first to be erected in any part of the British Empire since the Reformation, and it suffered abundant birth pangs. Dowd’s is a rich and important study of the development of that hierarchy. By extension, the work is also a study of the workings of the papacy in its period and of that singularly influential arm of the Church, the Congregation de Propaganda Fide. Its influence was felt throughout all those countries in which the hierarchy remained subject to Roman tutelage. Dowd examines the Congregation in detail by dwelling at length on its methods and its officials. Together with good decisions, others were tainted by procrastination, by sowing confusion, by playing double games, by listening to calumny and detraction, but always protecting their sources no matter how venal, insignificant, and unreliable they were. Thus Pio Nono, and Propaganda, rather than listening to the bishops, often turned to obscure sources such as the mysterious English convert, Monsignor George Talbot, to the detriment of the Church in Australia. Curiously, Dowd has an almost inordinate fascination with assorted Roman layabouts, often of minor aristocratic origin, who wander through his pages. That he treats them with respect is to his credit, especially given that their knowledge of Australia was miniscule. In this story there are many curiosities. Can it be that the assumption of a mitre sometimes tended to send...

An Extracanonical Institution: The Annual Meetings Of The American Archbishops, 1890–1919

AN EXTRACANONICAL INSTITUTION: THE ANNUAL MEETINGS OF THE AMERICAN ARCHBISHOPS, 1890–1919 Robert Trisco* Introduction From 1884, when the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore was held, to 1919, when the first meeting of what was to become the National Catholic Welfare Conference took place in Washington, D.C., the entire Catholic hierarchy of the United States never assembled. In this respect it was not different from the episcopates of most of the other countries subject to the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, although the German bishops regularly met at Fulda and Freising during these years. Nine of the twelve archbishops met in Baltimore in 1886 for the sole purpose of judging three secret societies in keeping with a decree of the Third Plenary Council. Prompted by complaints or questions from some bishops, the prefect of Propaganda Fide, Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni, had asked the Archbishop of Baltimore, Cardinal James Gibbons, who had presided over the council, to summon a meeting of the archbishops at which the status of the suspected societies could be determined.1 Some American bishops thought that meetings of the hierarchy would be useful. In 1888, for example, William Henry Elder, Archbishop of Cincinnati, wrote to Cardinal Gibbons that members of the hierarchy had frequently expressed the desire for more frequent meetings of the bishops of each province “and that once a year or thereabouts, theArchbishops of the country . . . should meet together . . . for an interchange of views & the consideration of questions of interest.” Elder believed it obvious that such meetings “would be of very great service to religion in bringing about at least a proximate agreement of spirit and administration & in fostering The Jurist 68 (2008) 53–91 53 * Professor Emeritus of Church History, The Catholic University of America. 1 John Tracy Ellis, The Life of James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, 1834–1921 2 vols. (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company, 1952) I, 453–454, and Fergus Macdonald, The Catholic Church and the Secret Societies in the United States. “Monograph Series,” XXII. (New York: United States Catholic Historical Society, 1946) 147–148. 54 the jurist unionofmindsandhearts.”2 ElderevenpersuadedtheArchbishopofNew Orleans, Francis Janssens (who had been promoted to that metropolitan see only onAugust 7, 1888), to write to Gibbons “about an annual convocation of the archbishops”; he complied diffidently, recognizing that it was not becoming in him—“the Baby on the list”—to make suggestions.3 It does not seem that Gibbons took the initiative. When most of the American bishops, however, convened in Baltimore in November, 1889, to celebrate the centenary of the establishment of the first episcopal see in the United States,4 the archbishops agreed “that they should meet together once a year for the purpose of consulting on the general interests of the Church in America, the wish also being expressed that at some date before the time of their own meeting, each of them should have called around him his suffragans and taken advice from them as to what matters they would wish to bring before the Archbishops .”5 They decided to hold their first meeting the next year, on July 23, 1890, in Boston. Thus was launched the uninterrupted series of conferences that provided the only instrument of common policy and united action in the Church of the United States for three eventful decades although it lacked any canonical authority to make binding decisions. Notable is the fact that the archbishops did not request any permission from Rome to initiate the novel practice of annual meetings. At that time the Apostolic Delegation in Washington had not yet been established. Sources This study is based primarily on the complete series of the minutes of the annual meetings preserved in theArchives of theArchdiocese of Baltimore , the archbishop of which presided over all the meetings. Some of them, however, are copies of originals in theArchives of theArchdiocese of St. Louis, deposited there by the successive archbishops of that see who were secretaries for more than two-thirds of the meetings. Copies of the minutes of most of the meetings from 1893 on, in either typewritten 2 Elder to Gibbons, Cincinnati, September 13, 1888, Archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Gibbons, RG I 9 (hereafter abbreviated as “AAB” and “Gibbons, RG...

Santa Sede e Manciukuò (1932-1945), con appendice di documenti (review)

Santa Sede e Manciukuo (1932-1945), con appendice di documenti. By Giovanni Coco. [Pontificio Comitato di Scienze Storiche:Atti e Documenti, no. 23.] (Vatican City:Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2006. Pp. xxxvi, 470. euro45,00.) In recent years, the history of Manchukuo, the puppet state in Northeast China established by Japan and under its control between 1932 and 1945, has attracted increasing scholarly interest. Two studies, Rana Mitter's The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, Resistance and Collaboration in Modern China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000) and Prasenjit Duara's Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), in particular, have shown the importance of the Manchukuo's nation-building experiment not only to understand Japanese colonialism and militarism, but, even more prominently, Chinese nationalism. Giovanni Coco's Santa Sede e Manciukuo (The Holy See and Manchukuo), while potentially useful to historians interested in East Asian nationalism and modernity, focuses on a specific issue in diplomatic history, the vexata quaestto of the Holy see's presumed recognition of Manchukuo.To this day, Chinese authorities customarily mention this matter as an offense against the Chinese nation. Given the tension that has characterized Sino-Vatican relations since 1949, a clarification of this puzzle has implication far beyond historical circles. The book, enriched by historical photographs, is divided into two parts: an historical introduction in eleven short chapters (pp. 1-179), and a documentary appendix (pp. 181-468), including 168 documents in Italian, French, Latin, and English from the Vatican Archives and other ecclesiastical archives. The introduction details the complex diplomatic ballet that involved the Catholic Church on the one hand, and the Manchukuo, Japanese, and Chinese governments on the other. Within the Church, a fragmented front made up of several actors (the Congregation De Propaganda Fide, the Vatican Secretariat of State, the Pope, the Vicars Apostolic in Manchuria, and the Apostolic Delegates in China and Japan) tried to defend the Catholic missions and their educational institutions in the region, without offering state recognition for Manchukuo. This was a dangerous game that could offend the Japanese and bring about repercussions on Catholics in Japan and Manchuria. For that reason, the proJapanese Apostolic Delegate Paolo Marella in Tokyo always pushed for recognition as the best solution. …

Un défenseur des droits des noirs aux États-Unis: l’abbé Joseph Anciaux (1858-1931)

After the abolition of slavery in the United States of America in 1865, the Catholic Church, inundated by the influx of European immigrants, took some time to make a place for citizens of African origin. It took the energetic intervention of some strong personalities to change the course. Along side the well-known St. Katharine Drexel, Rev. Joseph Anciaux played a decisive role in promoting structural measures that favoured this disadvantaged population who was victim of racism. Thanks to the Belgian diocesan priest’s approach to the Congregation De Propaganda Fide, an office for African Americans was put in place in 1906. This initiative, rooted in the priest’s actions with Walloon workers, would have dramatic repercussions in his life.

Whither Propaganda? Agonism and “The Engineering of Consent”

Randall L. Bytwerk, Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2004), 228 pp. $59.95 (cloth), $24.95 (pap...

United States Documents in the Propaganda Fide Archives: A Calendar, Volume Twelve (review)

Reviewed by: United States Documents in the Propaganda Fide Archives: A Calendar, Volume Twelve Robert Trisco United States Documents in the Propaganda Fide Archives: A Calendar, Volume Twelve. Compiled by Anton Debevec ; edited by William J. Short , O.F.M. (Berkeley, California: Academy of American Franciscan History. 2002. Pp. x, 355.) After an interval of fifteen years the next volume in this grand project has at last been brought out. This long delay was due mainly to the regrettable relocation of the Academy of American Franciscan History from Bethesda, Maryland, to Berkeley, California, and the consequent, inevitable disruption of its activities. The retirement of the co-editors of Volume Eleven, Fathers Mathias C. Kiemen, O.F.M., and James McManamon, O.F.M., must also have prolonged the hiatus. It is ironic that the name of Anton Debevec, who collected all the information about the documents on printed forms as he toiled away in Rome, never appeared on the title pages of the first seven volumes (1966-1977), which were published while he was still living, but is prominently displayed now that he is long dead. Certainly, the new editor, Brother Short, also deserves high praise for arranging the massive data under 2,187 numbers (many with references to more than one document) with elaborate cross references and a detailed index. As far as a reviewer without access to the original papers can judge, the volume is free of typographical errors on the inside, but, unfortunately, has a misspelling ("Calender") on the spine. It would have been helpful to indicate on the spine and on the title page the years of the material here calendared, namely, 1876 and 1877, although some older documents, as far back as 1869, are included in the archival volumes labeled with these years. The editor might also have given in an introduction the names and dates of assuming and leaving office of the prefect and secretary of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide. As has been the practice since Volume VIII (the first of the second series), all the documents dating from these years and existing in the five main record groups of the Propaganda Fide Archives are brought together between the two covers; this arrangement is most convenient, because documents pertaining to the same topics are located in different record groups. Although 1876 was the centennial of the Declaration of Independence and the last full year of the presidency of Ulysses Grant, one finds few references to political events in these pages. The fiftieth anniversary of Pius IX's episcopal consecration [End Page 827] in 1877 was the occasion of countless congratulations and contributions to Peter's Pence. In the United States this might be called the age of Cardinal John McCloskey, Archbishop of New York, who had been elevated to the sacred purple in 1875, the first American to be so honored, but it was also the time of the rise of James Gibbons, who was promoted to the coadjutorship of Baltimore and then succeeded to that metropolitan see in 1877, of John Lancaster Spalding, who was appointed first bishop of Peoria in 1876, and of John Moore, bishop of St. Augustine the following year. As the Holy See gradually increased the number of American sees (although the only new one in these two years was Leavenworth, whose first bishop, Michael Fink, O.S.B., had previously been vicar apostolic of Kansas and the Indian Territory), the Propaganda had to spend more time in keeping them filled and in dealing with complaints about their occupants. The other McCloskey, William G., bishop of Louisville, alone is the subject of more than 150 numbers related to his troubles with his clergy, who denounced him for his frequent, arbitrary, and vindictive transfers of priests and his inept financial management of the diocese, with the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, and with the Abbot of Gethsemani, Benedict Berger, O.C.R. Adversarial relations between bishops and their successors can be traced in Pittsburgh (Michael Domenec, C.M., and John Tuigg) and in Albany (John J. Conway and Francis McNierny). Many papers concern the approval of the constitutions of congregations of religious women, e.g., the Sisters of...

Monumenta Proximi-Orientis, VI : Egypte (1700-1773) (review)

Proximi-Orientis,VLEgypte (1700-1773). By Charles Libois, SJ. [Monumenta Historica Societatis lesu.Vol. 155; Missionum Societatis Iesu, Vol. LXVII. Missiones Orientales.] (Rome: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu. 2003. Pp. Ix, 658.) This volume is the fourth and last on the history of the Society of Jesus in Egypt before its suppression in 1773. It is also the last in the series Monumenta Proximi Orientis. It covers the first three-quarters of the eighteenth century. The dream of reaching Ethiopia came to an end at the beginning of the century-in 1706-after the death of the Franciscans, Jesuits, and envoys of the King of France who were sent to Egypt, but of the 252 documents reproduced in this book more than one hundred none the less concern these missions and cover half of the work. A ferocious competition can be discerned there between each group of those sent-civilians as well as religious-to be the first to achieve the desired allegiances-a competition which in part would cause the failure of those commissioned. This competition among the envoys of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, Franciscans of the Holy Land, Jesuits, and consuls would be manifested as well in Cairo, in the pursuit of a union between Rome and the Orthodox Coptic Patriarch as for the mastery of the care of souls-a competition that is astonishing for us and unfortunate indeed. Father Libois's introduction is quite reserved on these tensions-more reserved in any case than a reading of the documents reveals-and is extended at greater length to the pastoral activities of the Jesuit Fathers in Cairo, to their school and their garden. As the project of a mission to Ethiopia faded in the early years of the century, the Fathers began to interest themselves in Egypt for its own sake. They built their residence and attached to it a garden that was to be the place of meetings of the French merchants in Cairo and of Copts converted to Catholicism. Their efforts were directed toward several objectives. The dream of bringing the Orthodox Coptic Church under the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome and of restoring unity: two fruitless attempts in the sixteenth century had not stifled this dream. But in view of the uselessness of all these efforts, it was toward the establishment of a Catholic Coptic community that it had an unhappy outcome. The Jesuits opened a small school to fight against the total ignorance of the Christians. The teachers in it were to be young Egyptian priests who had studied in Rome. The financing of this school was to be a constant worry for the Fathers. Father Sicard was certainly the most remarkable Jesuit of this period. He spent, however, only fourteen years in Egypt before the plague carried him off in 1726, but he had scoured the whole country and had founded the first scientific Egyptology, exploring from Damietta to Aswan or Siwa, making cartographic surveys and identifying the monuments and giving them their ancient names according to Strabo and the Greek inventories of times past. It was also during this first quarter of the eighteenth century that the first small Catholic Coptic community came into being-more, however, thanks to the missions of the Franciscans than of the Jesuits themselves. …

The First Jubilees Celebrated in the United States

MISCELLANY THE FIRSTJUBILEES CELEBRATED IN THE UNITED STATES Robert Trisco* When on Christmas of 1775 Pope Pius VI extended the Jubilee to the following year for the entire Catholic world,1 the thirteen British colonies of North America had already begun the Revolutionary War, and communications between the American clergy and their ordinary, the VicarApostolic of the London District, were interrupted. The priests, all ex-Jesuits, continued, nevertheless , to labor under their local superior, who had been appointed by the Vicar Apostolic. After the Peace of Paris was signed, five of the priests, designated by the first General Chapter of the Clergy, met in November, 1783, and wrote a letter to the Pope, stating that they could no longer have recourse for their spiritual jurisdiction to a bishop or vicar apostolic living under a foreign government , and they requested not only that their ecclesiastical superior,John Lewis, be confirmed in office but also that the indulgences of the Jubilee of 1775 be granted to the American mission,"as well as such extension of faculties, as may seem good, to the missionaries in this extensive and very remote region, plagued by a long and bitter war with concurrent and continuing disturbances ." For that reason the Jubilee could not be promulgated here; still less could it be celebrated or benefited from.2 "Monsignor Trisco is the Kelly-Quinn Distinguished Professor of Church History in the Catholic University of America. He read an abridged version of this article in Italian at an international conference on "Jubilees in the History of the Church,"which was sponsored by the Pontifical Committee on Historical Sciences and held in Rome on June 23-26, 1999. The addition of pages to the January issue ofthe Catholic Historical Review to permit publication of this article has been financed by a subvention from the Anne M. Wolf Fund. The author expresses his gratitude to the referees for their helpful criticisms and suggestions. 'Bullarii Romani Continuatio, Vol. V, edd. Andrea Barberi and Alessandro Spetia (Rome, 1842), Const. LXXIII, pp. 180-185; Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, Vol. XXXLX: Pius VI. (1775-1799), trans. E. F. Peeler (reprinted Nendeln, Liechtenstein, 1969), p. 330. 2Peter Guilday, The Life and Times of John Caroll, Archbishop of Baltimore (1735-1815) (reprinted Westminster, Maryland, 1954), pp. 170-171; Thomas O'Brien Hanley, S.J. (ed), TheJohn Carroll Papers (3 vols; Notre Dame, Indiana, 1976), 1, 68-69. 85 86THE FIRSTJUBILEES CELEBRATED IN THE UNITED STATES Instead of Lewis the Holy See in 1784 appointedJohn Carroll superior of the missions. The prefect of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, Cardinal Leonardo Antonelli, replied to Carroll that the Holy Father had extended the induit ofthe Jubilee to the thirteen states and that the time allowed to gain it was one year from the day on which Carroll would receive the letter.3 He received it on November 26, 1784.4 In the following January he sent the clergy a circular announcing the Jubilee and asking that the priests give the faithful under their care "such instruction, as may render them well acquainted with the nature, & advantage of a Jubilee, and of the necessary conditions for obtaining the benefit of it." The Holy Father had empowered him "to exchange the enjoined exercises of piety into other good works."Therefore, since the circumstances of the country did not permit the faithful to visit four different churches, Carroll directed (1) that the inhabitants oftowns in which there was a chapel convenient for the purpose, with the Blessed Sacrament reserved in it, had to visit the said chapel on fifteen successive or interrupted days and there devoutly recite either the Litany of the Saints or seven "Our Fathers" and seven "Hail Marys," etc., for the intention stated by the Pope; (2) that those who lived in the country or other places not having the convenience of a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament kept in it, or who lived in towns having such a chapel but were "deprived of all opportunity of visiting it, being servants or slaves," had likewise to recite the Litany of the Saints and the aforementioned prayers "for the space of fifteen days, either continued or interrupted...

Defending the True Faith: Kirk, State, and Catholic Missioners In Scotland, 1653-1755

DANIEL SZECHI* In March, 1708, Scottish Privy Council was meeting daily in emergency session in a frantic attempt to put kingdom in a defensible state before Franco-Jacobite invasion poised to strike from Dunkirk could arrive in Scotland. While examining reports from officers and magistrates from all over country, their deliberations suddenly focused on threat of a Roman Catholic uprising in support of James Francis Edward Stuart, Old Pretender, and as Lord Grange reported in a letter to his brother Earl of Mar, This occasioned severalls of Council to complain that notwithstanding many complaints there has been made of encrease of Popery and swarming of priests openly and avowedly in many places of north and Galloway and Nithsdale, that yet nothing was effectually done to restrain them.' Strangely, government does not seem to have heeded complaints even in aftermath of abortive invasion of 1708, for six years later author of an anonymous, but strikingly similarly worded, condescendance, written in response to General Assembly of Kirk's representations to government regarding the of poperie, was warning Scotland's rulers that Kirk was in danger of being overwhelmed by Catholic tide. In Highlands in 1714, author lamented: In paroch of Lochaber priests swarm like locusts, running from house to house, gaining multitudes to their anti-Christian idolatry, baptizeing and marrying. In presbytery of Abemethie priests keep publick meetings, visite, preach, declare people marrYed and say Mass without fear of laws.2 Nor was writer a voice in wilderness. A special committee of commission of General Assembly begged for immediate action by Court of Police in 1718, arguing that it was evident from last accounts that disease grows and will encresce if some stop be not put to progress of it.3 In 1720 another memorial writer declared that, such a height have and Jacobites now arrived at in [the] Duke [of] Gordon's countries, that Protestant friends to government are in hazard of their lives, and he cited cases of two converts to Kirk who were assaulted by mobs of papists and in one case at least forced to flee area.' Even in aftermath of suppression of '45, another memorialist felt moved to complain to Duke of Newcastle that in consequence of efforts of Catholic priests throughout Scotland, is prevailing dayly5 The nighannual petition of General Assembly of Kirk after 1688, that a diligent search be made for popish priests, eloquently attests that memorialists' concern was generally shared by ministers throughout Scotland.6 Moreover, underpinning professed anxiety of ministers and elders about apparent success of missionary efforts of Catholic Church, there was apparently solid cause for concern. Since 1650's Congregation de Propaganda Fide in Rome had been funding a sustained effort to re-establish a permanent Catholic presence in Scotland. The Scots Colleges in Paris and Rome annually turned out dedicated young Scotsmen devoted to this missionary effort. Between 1653 and 1753 their efforts produced an eightfold increase in number of secular priests operating in Scotland. The Jesuits, Dominicans, Benedictines, Franciscans, and even Cistercians briskly seconded their efforts by sending over substantial numbers of additional mission priests. The number of professed Catholics nearly tripled between 1690's and 1750's. Prima facie, it would appear that Kirk was on defensive and encreasce of popery was a reality. And yet, with perfect hindsight, we of course know that Protestantism in Scotland was never in any danger from Catholic mission effort. The eightfold increase in secular priests on mission in Scotland conceals a leap from an insignificant five priests in 1653 to a puny forty in 1753. …

L'impegno quotidiano della Congregazione per le Chiese Orientali

The origin of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches is well known and its competence has been explained various times by more than one author. This has always been done in general terms. The current article considers particulars. Briefly it deals with the following : 1. the origin of the Roman Curia and the structure of Congregations; 2. the origin of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide and the institution of the dicastery pro negotiis ritus orientalis; 3. the transformation in 1917 which make this dicastery into an autonomous congregation called pro Ecclesia Orientali by Benedict XV and, later by Paul VI, from 1968 onwards: pro Ecclesiis orientalibus; since when the Congregation has had the Roma Pontiff as its Prefect. The competance of the Congregation is vast, extending to all the faithful of Oriental Rite and also Latin Rite faithful in certain territories, this is exercised in strict subordination to the Roman Pontiff; 4. In the fulfilment of its pastoral service, the Congregation intervenes when there is an election of a Patriarch or of a Major Archbishop and presents the assent or nomination of the Roman Pontiff to the candidates for the episcopate. It also assists the Oriental Bishops in their ad milina Apostolorum visit; it follows carefully the inherent problems of initial formation and permanence of the clergy, and the problems of priestly life; it promotes and assists consecrated life, and the life of the laity. The Congregation shows the Apostolic Sees fidelity to its continuing mission during this century by giving great attention to Oriental Liturgy, and promoting the study of oriental christianity. Finally the particular situations of the oriental communities give relevance to the financial assistance which is coordinated by this Congregation

Guide to Documents Relating to French and British North America in the Archives of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide in Rome, 1622-1799 Ottawa: National Archives of Canada, 1991. xiv + 250 p

Guide to Documents Relating to French and British North America in the Archives of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide in Rome, 1622-1799 Ottawa: National Archives of Canada, 1991. xiv + 250 p

Reviews and other notices

Reviews and other notices

The Anti-Catholic Activity of the S.P.C.K., C. 1698–1740

THE SOCIETY for Promoting Christian Knowledge was established in 1698. From its inception, one of its aims was to combat the spread of Catholicism in Britain and elsewhere. At the end of the seventeenth century, the Counter-Reformation seemed to be enjoying great successes: as one of the Society's memorials noted, ‘the progress of Popery … by little and little ruins the Reformed Religion all over Europe’. This occurred, the memorial went on, because the Protestants had little regard for their own defence. The remedy was to form a ‘union of Protestants’, with a council to organize its correspondence among those of the reformed faith in all parts of the continent; and to put a stop the activity of Popish priests, though ‘without Persecution and violence’. A bulwark, it was argued, was unquestionably needed against so formidable and zealous a body as the Congregation de Propaganda Fide. The Crown was to be informed of these designs and the Society was soon given a watching brief on ‘the practices of priests to pervert His Majesty's subjects’.