RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Missions to the Heathen
Missions to); under English rule the work was paralyzed, but it was taken up again in the nineteenth century by oblates of the Immaculate Conception, who followed the Canadian fur-hunters on their extensive journeys, and were spurred on by the growing Evangelical mission. While in the archdioceses of Quebec and Toronto most of the Indians were already Roman Catholics, to the wild tribes in the icy West the Gospel was carried. On the Red River, the Roman Catholic and Evangelical missions worked side by side. There is now the flourishing province of Manitoba, with 400,000 inhabitants. Statistics do not show how many of the 35,000 Indians are Roman Catholics. Besides the archdiocese of St. Bonifacius, the diocese of St. Albert and the vicariate of Saskatchewan and Athabasca-Mackenzie have been formed in the West — the last-named reaches up to the Polar Sea. Beyond the Rocky Mountains the diocese of New Westminster has been founded. Among its 30,000 Roman Catholics there are, according to the Missiones Catholicce, 15,000 Indians. Oblates of the Immaculate Conception work everywhere, but accurate statistics in regard to their activity are not to be had.
The following table is taken from the Official Catholic Directory for 1908 :
Archdioceses,
Dioceses
and
Vicariates.
a
B.2
.2o ■g-3
rt B
V
»
•c
"3
XI
o
CO
&
Religious Order.
Alaska
Baker City . . .
Brownsville .
Fargo
Grand Rapids Green Bay . . . Oklahoma . . .
Omaha
Lead City . . .
Marquette. . . . Nesqually . . . Oregon City . San Francisco Santa F^ ...
Superior
Tucson
29,000 3,200 4,500
2,950
3,100
96,000
18,000
1,500
10,000
1,300
32,000
5,000 1,000 1,400
2,150 1,400 3,400
6,000
1,040
3,500
18,000
2,676
3,000
Jesuits, Lay
Bros. Jesuits, Lay
Bros. Jesuits, Lay
Bios.
Franciscans Benedictine, Bros. Sacred Heart
Jesuits, Benedictine Jesuits Jesuits
Franciscans Franciscans
Totals
202,176
49,194
4,430
The regions colonized by the Spaniards and Portuguese were won at that time for Roman Catholic Christianity through the labors of the Franciscans and Dominicans. Later came the 2. Latin Jesuits, who had in many cases great America apparent success. With the suppresand the sion of the order, their institutions de- West Indies, cayed and the converts were scattered and lapsed into heathenism. However, in course of time, a portion of the Indians in this region gained a certain civilization and at the same time adopted the Roman Catholic forms. On the whole, the region appears to be Christianized, but the conditions are entirely unsound. The educational level of the clergy is incredibly low and the VII— 26
general morality is degraded. In many of these lands nothing is done for those who are still heathen. In Mexico, there are now more than 12,000,000 Roman Catholics, namely, 2,000,000 Spanish Creoles, 4,000,000 Indians, and 70,000 Negroes, the remainder being half-breeds; only 200,000 Indians are still heathen, and apparently no mission work is done among them. On the other hand, it may be remarked that several Protestant denominations in the United States carry on a successful work of propagandism among the Roman Catholic population. In Central America there are said to be still 1,200,000 Indians out of a population of 3,000,000. They are for the most part Roman Catholics; but here also there are uncivilized Indians, among whom mission work is apparently not carried on. Although the whole region is under the Propaganda, only Honduras is noted in the Missiones Catholicce. Here Jesuits report 19,000 Roman Catholics; whether work is done among the heathen is not stated. In the church provinces of the Antilles, missions to the heathen can hardly be expected. The Missiones Catholicce gives the following statistics :
Roman Catholics.
13,000
180,340
50,00C 38.20C
Inhabitants.
Vicariate of Jamaica 727,630
Ad. Port of Spain (Trinidad, Tobago,
Grenada, St. Vincent and Sta. Lucia) 394,000 D. Roseau (Dominica, Antigua, Barbuda,
St. Thomas, St. Croix, etc.) 146,000
Vicariate of Curacao 46,190
Besides the Jesuits, Dominicans and Redemptionists labor there. The principal activity is in the direction of making conversions among the Evangelical Negro population. The other islands of the Greater Antilles are not noted in the Missiones Catholicce. In South America, the same source reports for Guiana and Patagonia the following statistics:
Roman Inhabitants. Catholics.
1. Vicariate of Demerara (with the Bar-
bados) 200,000 500
On the mainland 260,000 23,500
2. Vicariate Surinam (Redemptionists). 64,000 17,000
3. Prefecture of Cayenne 31,000 29,000
Patagonia has the two apostolic vicariates, North and South Patagonia, in which the Salesians work. Beside 103,000 Roman Catholics and 5,700 Protestants there are here 1,500 Indians; nothing is said regarding a mission to them. Franciscans and Capuchins do mission work among the Indians of South America. In Chili there are stations in Chilian and in the island of Chiloe, whence work is done among the Araucanians of the mainland. The Capuchins have in Arauco, Valdivia, and Llanquihue 26,700 converts. In Bolivia an Indian mission is mentioned (Tarija, La Paz, Tarata, Sucre and Potosi, the last with 4,000 adherents). In Brazil, the mission undertaken in 1870 was almost destroyed by the downfall of the empire, but recently it has been actively pushed. Here the Capuchins work and they have 20.350 converts among 500,000 heathen. The number of heathen Indians in South America is estimated at two millions. The statistics regarding Roman missions in America are so incomplete and inexact that a statistical summary, similar to that given for other parts of the world, is impossible. All that can be said is that in America, according to attainable information, there are 544,402 Roman Catholic converts from heathenism
Missions to the Heathen