The Catholic World Volume Ii Part 77

III. Catholic population in Africa 4,071,000

IV. Catholic population in America 46,930,000

Catholic population in the four parts of the globe 207,801,000

Thus we reach the sum of nearly _two hundred and eight millions_; nor do we fear exaggeration in the number. But were even some one reluctant to accept our results, such attenuating doubts could never diminish our total beyond _eight millions_. Thus when we a.s.serted that there are _two hundred millions_ of Catholics in the world, we gave a figure far under our calculations, in order to place it above all doubt.

II. We will now exhibit, in very simple tables, the grand division of the inhabitants of the world, according to the different religious creeds:

_Christianity_ 344,000,000 Catholic Church 208,000,000 Eastern Churches, schismatic or heretical 70,000,000 Protestantism 66,000,000 Total 344,000,000

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_Judaism_ 4,000,000 _Islamism_ 100,000,000 _Brahminism_ 60,000,000 _Buddhism_ 180,000,000 _Worship of Confucius, Sinto, of Spirits_, etc. 152,000,000

Total of inhabitants of the world 840,000,000

These results are not from data as certain as those which we were enabled to obtain for the Catholic Church; yet they are founded on great probability. There is a remarkable increase in all, owing to the fact that more reliable researches have given a larger number of inhabitants on the globe.

Let us now compare our own results with those of the most celebrated geographers. Malte-Brun wrote in 1810, Pinkerton and Balbi in 1827, and yet, although so near to one another, they are not of one accord as to the inhabitants of the earth, and consequently they do not agree in their divisions. More recent geographers admit a number far larger than that allowed by Balbi, and seem to hesitate between _eight hundred and a thousand millions_. We are of opinion that the grand total cannot, with any good reason, be reckoned beyond _eight hundred and forty millions_ (840,000,000); at the same time it cannot be set at any figure much below it. The following figures represent _millions_:

Malte-Brun. Pinkerton. Balbi. Civ. Catt's.

_Christianity_ 228 235 260 344 _Judaism_ 5 5 4 4 _Islamism_ 110 120 96 100 _Brahminism_ 60 60 60 60 _Buddhism_ 150 108 170 180 _Other creeds_ 100 100 147 152 Total 653 700 737 840

III. A glance at some particular countries will show how much the Catholic Church has gained in numbers and influence within a few years. Let us begin from two Protestant countries in Europe.

The "Catholic Directory," annually issued in England for the last hundred years, will, by comparing a few data, exhibit the progress of Catholicity in Great Britain's most Protestant sections--we mean England and Scotland. We limit ourselves to the official returns given within the last nine years. We ma.s.s them in two tables, which will place our a.s.sertion upon the strongest basis of truth. The _first_ will show that in these two kingdoms, so totally averse to Catholicity--nay, intensely hostile to it--England and Scotland, the number of clergymen has increased, within _twenty-five_ years, at the rate of 137 per centum; that of churches 30; religious houses for men 222, for women 105. The _second_ table will give the same numbers, but divided in the various dioceses, in varied ratio indeed, but everywhere with the same tokens of increase:

GENERAL STATISTICS OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.

Years Clergymen Churches Relig Men Relig Women Colleges &Chapels 1856 1142 849 17 91 12 1857 1162 894 23 106 11 1858 1204 902 27 109 11 1859 1222 926 34 110 11 1860 1236 950 37 123 12 1861 1342 993 47 155 12 1862 1388 1019 50 162 12 1863 1417 1065 55 177 12 1864 1445 1098 56 186 12

But if we draw our figures from earlier dates, the comparison will be even more striking. Behold the result within the last twenty-five years:

1839 610 513 0 17 10 1849 897 612 13 41 10 1864 1445 1098 56 186 12

Limiting our researches only to England, we find the increase within _eight_ years, between 1856 and 1864, stated in the official returns of the several dioceses, at the following rates:

Churches Clergyman Convents Monasteries Dioceses 1856 1864 1856 1864 1856 1864 1856 1864 Westminster 56 117 129 214 5 15 18 31 Beverly 75 90 93 116 3 6 7 19 Birmingham 96 100 132 141 3 3 19 27 Clifton. 37 49 50 62 2 3 5 13 Hexham 63 81 72 99 -- 1 4 11 Liverpool 94 110 166 195 2 5 12 25 Newport 35 42 29 47 -- 3 3 6 Northampton 30 36 25 31 -- -- 2 5 Nottingham 42 52 47 59 3 5 5 5 Plymouth 26 35 28 34 -- -- 3 8 Salford 47 70 72 107 1 5 9 14 Shrewsbury 53 59 52 71 1 3 3 7 Southwark 79 100 90 147 3 9 10 15

Total 730 941 985 1321 23 58 100 187 -730 -985 -23 -100

Increase 211 336 35 87

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IV. Let us now step over to the Continent, and investigate the increase of Catholicity in a province where Protestantism has had it all its own way since the beginning of the Reformation--we allude to Holland. To understand the progressive development of Catholicity in the Low Countries, we need only compare the figures of two years, with an interval of half a century intervening between them:

Years Catholic population Parishes Clergyman Churches 1864 1,300,000 941 1725 976 1814 850,000 814 1216 898 Increase in 50 years 450,000 127 310 78

The amount expended in repairing the old and building new churches is reckoned, during this lapse of time, at _thirty_ millions of Dutch florins, a little more than _sixty-four_ millions of francs [over $18,560,000--Ed. CW.] All that government has contributed of its own toward this sum amounts only to _two_ millions of florins. In the above sum of _thirty_ millions no account is taken of what has been expended in churches and chapels belonging to religious communities, or for convents, hospitals, charitable inst.i.tutions, orphan asylums, and the like. Add to this what has been contributed for the endowments of those places, and the original sum of sixty-four millions of francs becomes well-nigh double its amount.

V. But nowhere has the Catholic Church increased so prosperously, within the last fifty years, as in the United States of America. Above two thousand churches and chapels built; an increase of one thousand and eight hundred clergymen; one hundred and sixty schools established, for the Catholic training of 18,000 boys and 34,600 girls. Moreover, there existed in 1857 _sixty-six_ asylums, with 4,963 orphans of both s.e.xes; _twenty-six_ hospitals, with _three thousand_ beds; _four_ insane asylums, with _eighty-two_ patients, beside many other charitable inst.i.tutions, all established and supported by the private charity of Catholics. Here we copy a comparative table from the "Metropolitan Catholic Almanac" of 1857:

Year Dioceses Vicariates Bishops Clergyman Churches Ecclesiastic Colleges Schools Apostolic & Stations Inst.i.tutions for Girls 1808 1 -- 2 68 80 2 1 2 1830 11 -- 10 232 230 9 6 20 1840 16 -- 17 482 812 13 9 47 1850 27 -- 27 1081 1578 29 17 91 1854 41 2 39 1574 2458 34 20 112 1857 41 2 39 1872 2882 35 29 134

1861 43 3 45 2317 3795 49 -- -- [Ed. Cath. World]

VI. Canon Joseph Ortalda, in a work of great value, [Footnote 68] the result of much labor and accurate investigations, supplies us with two very interesting doc.u.ments. One is a _Synoptic Table_ of the _missions_ in Asia, exhibiting both the number of Catholics in each _mission_ and that of missionaries employed in them; a number, by the way, generally very inadequate, especially when we take into consideration the vast territories over which every mission is extended.

[Footnote 68: "Italian Apostolic Missionaries in the Foreign Missions, over the Four Parts of the World." Turin: G. Marietti, 1864. Ortalda's intent is to prove before the Senate of the Kingdom of Piedmont how the suppression of religious orders would be injurious to the Church and to civilization, whilst from their bosoms go forth so many missionaries to all parts of the world.]

APOSTOLIC VICARATES MISSIONARIES CATHOLICS Aleppo 25 80,000 Asia Minor 70 100,000

China and adjacent kingdoms: Xensi 16 30,000 Xansi 12 20,000 Hu-pe, in the Hu-quang, native missionaries, 14 11 15,865 Hu-nan, in the Hu-quang 7 10,000 Sut-chuen, North-west vicariate 15 23,000 Sut-chuen, Eastern Vicariate 12 17,000 Sut-chuen, Southern Vicariate 14 20,000 Konein-kon 7 10,000 La.s.sa 5 7,000 Jun-nan 6 8,000 To-chien 14 30,000 Nankin 36 73,000 Pekin, Western Vicariate 17 30,000 Pekin, Southwestern Vicariate 15 26,600 Pekin, Eastern Vicariate 12 13,000 Tse-Kiang 6 5,000 Kiang-si 8 10,000 Lenotung 9 11,000 Mongolia 8 10,000 Xan-tung 11 12,000 Ho-nan 6 5,000 Siam, Western Vicariate 12 10,000 Siam, Eastern Vicariate 20 30,000 Cochin, Eastern Vicariate 29 32,000 Cochin, Northern Vicariate 21 25,000 Cochin, Western Vicariate 19 30,000 Camboge, and the people of Laos 10 15,000 Tonchin, Eastern Vicariate 13 54,000 Tonchin, Western Vicariate 85 135,000 Tonchin, Southern Vicariate 49 80,000 Tonchin, Central Vicariate 62 150,000 Corea 12 15,000

East Indies: j.a.pan 10 12,060 Ava and Pegu 11 8,000 Bombay, South Mission 20 15,000 Bombay, North Mission 15 13,000 Bengal, Western Vicariate (Calcutta) 12 15,000 Bengal, Eastern Vicariate 6 9,000 Ceylon--Colombo 18 84,900 Ceylon--Safnapatam 17 60,000 Madras 18 44,880 Hyderbad 7 4,000 Visagapatam 15 7,130 Pondicherry 53 100,000 Mayssour 16 17,110 Coimbatour 11 17,200 Sardhana 12 15,000 Agra 25 20,000 Patna 10 4,000 Verapolis--native priests, Latin rite 28, Syriac 340 7 330,000 Canara, or Mangalor-- Native priests 24 7 40,000 Quilon--Native priests 17 8 50,000 Madura 37 140,000

APOSTOLIC DELEGATIONS

Persia, Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Armenia Minor 30 25,000 Syria--Holy Land alone counts 54 28,986

APOSTOLIC PREFECTURES Aden, in Arabia 3 1,300 Hong-Kong, in China 7 5000 Hai-noou, Quan-tong, Quan-si, China 31 40,000 For the French colonies in India 12 7,000 For the Dutch colonies in India and Oceania 7 1,000 Laboan and adjacent places 6 3,000

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VII. The chief object of Ortalda's work is to show how many missionaries Italy gives to the Catholic Church. He gives the name, the grade in the hierarchy, and the residence of each, adding such items of information as will aid him in the object he has in view. We draw from his laborious work the following table, which, by way of conclusion, gives the final result of all his researches:

_Italian Apostolic Missionaries in Foreign Missions over the Whole World._

MISSIONARIES Europe Asia Africa America Oceania Total

Bishops 14 21 4 2 -- 41 Secular priests 33 45 11 65 8 162 Benedictines 7 9 -- 5 3 24 Minor Conventuals 9 2 -- 2 -- 13 Minor Observants 31 115 30 184 8 368 Minor Capuchins 369 108 35 130 5 447 Minor Reformed 60 58 29 67 1 215 Dominicans 22 11 -- 1 -- 34 Carmelites -- 39 -- -- -- 39 Augustinians 1 -- -- 1 -- 2 Jesuits 106 118 46 207 13 490 Lazarists 8 22 9 12 -- 51 Alcantarines -- -- -- 1 -- 1 Barnabites 24 12 3 10 8 57 Friars of St. Bonaventure 5 6 -- -- -- 11 Redemptorists -- -- -- -- 3 3 Servite -- -- -- -- 1 1 Oblates -- 16 -- -- -- 16 Pallottines (of A. Pallotta) 2 -- -- -- -- 2 Rosminians 16 -- -- 4 -- 20 From the Seminary of Milan 4 22 -- -- 3 29 From the seminary of Brignole Sale 17 6 -- 5 -- 23 529 610 167 696 53 2055

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