Tlie Latin mUk4 embraces the Roman Catholics of all rites, except the United Armenians, who have their own civil head. The head of the Latin millet is a lay- man, who has the title Vekil (representative). He is assisted by four deputies of the Latin population, with whom he constitutes a permanent council called the Latin Chancery, Tiie functions of this council are sim- ilar to those of the Greek patriarch.
(1.) The Latin Rite. — A Latin patriarchate was estab- lished at Constantinople in \i(io, in consequence of the crusades. The occupant received a rank next to the pope. When Constantinople, in 1453, became the resi- dence of the sultan, the Latin patriarchs transferred the seat of the patriarchate to Venice, and sent to Constanti- nople as their representative a vicar, who for a long time was onh' a monk. When the Catholics, in consequence of their increasing number, applied for a bishop, the Propaganda prevailed upon the patriarch to appoint an assistant bishop for Constantinople, and to pay him a regular salary. This bishop sometimes called himself patriarchal vicar, sometimes suffragan of the patriarch. After some time, the Propaganda found it necessary to appoint, in its turn, an apostolical patriarchal vicar. When, after the middle of the 17th century, the patri- arch took up his residence at Rome, and the patriarchate of Constantinople became a mere title in partibiis inji- delium, which was conferred upon a prelate residing in Rome, the apostolical vicar was invested with full juris- diction over all Catholics of the Latin rite. The popu- lation of his diocese, which extends over Thrace and the opposite coast of Asia Minor, is estimated at about 15,000. The larger portions of the vicariate apostolic (formerly archbishopric) of Sophia, which had before the late war a Latin population of about 8000, and of the diocese of Nicopolis, which had a population of about 3000, are no longer under Turkish rule. Both the towns of Sophia and Nicopolis lie within the new prin- cipality of Bulgaria. A considerable portion of the arch- bishopric of Scopia, or Uskub, in Macedonia (now the western part of Roumelia) has been annexed to Servia. The whole diocese numbered before the war about 8000 Catholics of the Latin rite. Before the enlargCTnent of the principality in 1878, the entire Roman Catholic pop- ulation, numbering about 4000 persons, was included in the diocese of Belgrade and Semendria [see Sekvia], which belonged as a suffragan see to the ecclesiastical province of Antivari. The two vicariates apostolic of Moldavia and Wallachia, numbering in 1878 an aggre- gate Roman Catholic population of 114,000, now belong to the independent state of Roumania. The two vi- cariates of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which embrace the entire Roman Catholic population in the two provinces after which they have been called, were in 1878, by the treaty of Berlin, placed under Austrian administration. The Catholic population in these vicariates is numer- ous, especially in the northern and north-western dis- tricts of Bosnia, which before the conquest of the coun-
try by the Turks belonged to Hungary. The bishop of Bosnia fled, in consetpience of the Turkish conquest, to Huiigary, and established his residence at Deacovar. The occupant of this see still has the title bishop of Bosnia and Sirmiimi; but, as the Turks did not allow the jiu'isdiction of a foreign prelate, a vicar apostolic was appointed for the Catholics of the Turkish prov- inces. The Catholic population is estimated at about 140,000, that of Herzegovina at 42,000. In the Euro- pean provinces remaining under Turkish rule the Ro- man Catholic Church has its greatest stronghold in Al- bania. There are two ecclesiastical provinces in Alba- nia, Antivari-Scutari and Durazzo. Tlie latter has no longer any suffragan see, and consists only of the arch- diocese of Durazzo. The archdiocese of Antivari and the diocese of Scutari were united in 18G7, at which time they had an aggregate Roman Catholic popidation of about 33,000. The suffragan sees of Antivari and Du- razzo are Sappa, Pulati, and Alessio, all in Albania, with an aggregate population of about 4'2,000. The diocese of Belgrade, in Servia, which has already been referred to, also belongs to this ecclesiastical province. The island of Scio, which belongs to Asiatic Turkey, has still an episcopal see, although the number of Roman Cath- olics is less than one thousand. It is a suffragan see of the archdiocese of Naxos, which belongs to the king- dom of Greece. In the Jliddle Ages, while this island was under the rule of the Venetians, it was very flour- ishing, and the Roman Catholic population was numer- ous; but during the (Jreek war of independence nearly the entire Christian popidation was exterminated or sold into slavery. The population of Cyprus, which in 1878 was placed under English administratio)i, has rap- idly increased during the last twenty years, and the Roman Catholic Church there numbers about 10,000 Catholics of the Latin and (Jreek rites, and 3000 Mar- onites. The flourishing city of Smyrna, in Asia Minor, has an archdiocese with about 15,000, nearly all of whom live in the capital. The archbishopric in this city was restored in 1818, and has now as a suffragan see the diocese of Candia, which, after being long con- ferred as a title in partihus iofidelinm, was restored in 1874. Besides these dioceses, the Church of Rome has an archbishop of Babylon, who resides at Bagdad. For the Roman Catholics of Jerusalem, who were formerly under the jurisdiction of Franciscan monks, an arch- bishopric was established in 1847, the occupant of which received the title of patriarch. The number of Roman Catholics in Palestine is estimated at about 15,000. Two "apostolic delegations" have been established, one call- ed " Asiatic Turkej-," and embracing Mesopotamia, Kur- distan, and Armenia Minor, and the other Syria; and two apostolical vicariates, Aleppo and Asia Minor. The number of Roman Catholics in all these dioceses and ecclesiastical districts is small, but the bishops and the comparatively numerous orders display a considerable activity among the Christians of the Oriental rites. Several Catholic congregations have been collected in the commercial towns of the Arabian coast. They are administered by the apostolical vicar of Aden. The number of Catholics in the African dependencies of Turkey is small, but is increasing by immigration from Catholic countries of Europe, especially France and It- alv. The French popidation residing in Egypt in 1877 amounted to 17,000, the Italian to 13,900, the Austrian to 6300; the large majority of all these are Catholics. The patriarchate of Alexan<lria, like that of Antioch in Asia, is now a mere title conferred upon an Italian prel- ate who resides in Rome. For the 25,000 Catholics of Tunis there is a vicar apostolic, and for the 5000 of Tripoli a praefect apostolic.