1875.]

Roman Catholic Church in British Empire.

under the sanction of the Roman Catholic authorities by Messrs. Burns and Oates, gives the following information and statistics of the Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain:-The ancient hierarchy ended in England with Thomas Watson, Bishop of Lincoln, who died in prison in 1584. After an interval of fourteen years the English Catholics were placed under the care of archpriests till 1623, when Pope Gregory XV. appointed a vicar apostolic; and it was by such dignitaries, who were bishops with foreign titles-in partibus infidelium-that the affairs of the Roman Church in England were conducted till the erection of the hierarchy by Pius IX. in 1850. In 1688 Innocent XI. divided England into four ecclesiastical districts, which were further increased to eight by Gregory XVI. in 1840. The English hierarchy now consists of thirteen sees-namely, the archbishopric of Westminster and the twelve suffragan dioceses of Beverley, Birmingham, Clifton, Hexham and Newcastle, Liverpool, Newport and Menevia (St. David's), Northampton, Nottingham, Plymouth, Salford, Shrewsbury, and Southwark. The two senior bishops in order of consecration are Dr. Brown, Bishop of Newport and Menevia, and Dr. Ullathorne, Bishop of Birmingham, who are both Benedictine monks, and whose appointments date from 1840 and 1846 respectively. The latest consecrated bishop is Bishop Bagshawe, of Nottingham, a member of the London Oratory, who was raised to the episcopal dignity in 1874. In England and Wales there are one cardinal archbishop, one archbishop in partibus, 16 bishops, 1,772 priests, and 1,061 churches and chapels; which gives an increase during the past year of 52 priests and 20 places of worship. The three most flourishing dioceses, judged by the number of priests and churches they contain, are Westminster, Liverpool, and Southwark. There are in England and Wales 215 monastic communities or orders, of which by far the greater number consist of women, who are for the most part engaged in teaching. In addition to this the dioceses possess colleges, industrial schools, charitable institutions, and politico-religious associations. In Scotland the ancient hierarchy ended with James Betoun, Archbishop of Glasgow, who was exiled, and, though reinstated by James VI., never returned to his see, but died in Paris in 1603. The Scottish mission afterwards remained chiefly under the care of the English archpriests and vicars apostolic till 1653, when Pope Innocent X. incor

237

porated the Scottish priests into an inde-
pendent body, and freed them from English
supervision. The first vicar apostolic of
Scotland was appointed in 1649. In

1731 the country was divided into two
ecclesiastical districts, and in 1827 was
further partitioned into three, which still
exist, and are governed by an archbishop
and two bishops with foreign territorial
titles. There are in the three districts
244 priests and 233 churches and chapels:
a slight increase upon the figures of last
year. The Roman Church in Ireland
consists of four provinces-Armagh,
Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam-at the head
of each of which is an archbishop, and
the provinces are again subdivided into
twenty-eight dioceses. The whole British
Empire, including dependencies and
colonies, consists, for the purposes of the
Roman Church, of 12 archiepiscopal sees,
71 episcopal sees, 36 apostolic vicariates,
and 7 apostolic prefectures, governed
from Rome. At the present time there
are 124 Romanist archbishops and
bishops holding office in the British
Empire. The peerage contains the names
of 36 members of the Roman communion,
including the name of Sir Robert Gerard,
whose promotion to the House of Peers
took place this year, and the baronet-
age 47.
There are 7 Roman Catholic
members of the Privy Council, and 50
Roman Catholics have seats in the House
of Commons. It is worthy of note that
the name of Lord Camoys, which, sub-
sequently to the newspaper discussion
last year about the Papal infallibility, was
excluded from the list of Catholic peers
in the "Catholic Directory," is now
restored to its place. The "Directory
also gives some information about the
Roman hierarchy, at the head of which
stands of course His Holiness Pius IX.,
whose full style is, it appears, Bishop
of Rome and Vicar of Jesus Christ, Suc-
cessor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles,
Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church,
Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy,
Archbishop and Metropolitan of the
Roman Province, Sovereign of the
temporal dominions of the Holy Roman
Church." The Sacred College of Car-
dinals, when its number is complete, con-
sists of 70 members-namely, 6 cardinal
bishops, 50 cardinal priests, and 14 car-
dinal deacons. At the present moment,
however, there are but 57 cardinals, of
whom 49 were created by Pius IX.;
during the pontificate of the present
Pope, too, 109 cardinals have died, of
whom he created 55. Pius IX. has
therefore raised 104 ecclesiastics to the
cardinalate during his reign. The Roman

XII.

PUBLIC INCOME AND EXPENDITURE.

The following are the receipts into and payments out of the Exchequer between April 1, 1874, and March 31, 1875:—

Including £652,000 and £148,000 respectively repaid to Revenue out of Telegraph Loan and not included in the Budget estimate for 1873-74.

Including the additional Terminable Annuity referred to in the Budget.

PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS.