Roman

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Romance

The history of the Roman Catholic Church
divides itself naturally into three periods. The
first period extends to the time of the Great
Schism of the ninth century, and is marked
by the foundation of the church by the Apos-
tles and by the development of those Axed
standards of ecclesiastical life with which is
bound up all its later history. The earlier part
of this period was an era of persecution. The
second era of the church's history is marked
by the wide extension of its activities among
the Celtic and Teutonic nations of Northern
and Central Europe, and by the Great
Schism, whereby the Greek Church withdrew
from the Roman communion. The modern
period of Roman Catholic history begins
with the Protestant Reformation by which
whole nations separated themselves from the
Roman communion, and the Council of Trent
(1545-1563), redefining Catholic doctrines.

The historic beginnings of the Catholic
Church in the New World are almost coin-
cident with the discovery of the continent,
for as early as 1493 twelve priests accom-
panied Columbus on his second voyage of
exploration. The first episcopal see erected on
the American continent was that of San
Domingo, which was created in 1513. The
second American see was that of Santiago de
Cuba in 1522; next came the see of Mexico
in 1530. From these centers went forth the
missionaries who first preached the Gospel
to the natives of the southeastern and south-
western portions of the territory now oc-
cupied by the United States. During the same
period French missionaries were preaching
the Gospel on the banks of the St. Lawrence,
in Maine, and Northern New York, and even
penetrating into the region of the Great Lakes
and the Valley of the Mississippi. The first
Catholic church in New York City was St.
Peter's, built in 1785. St. Patrick's Cathedral,
Fifth Avenue at $ist Street, was begun in
1858.

The See of Baltimore was created in 1789,
and its first bishop, John Carroll, was con-
secrated Aug. 15, 1790. The growth of the
Catholic Church in the United States during
the nineteenth century was exceedingly rapid,
owing chiefly to the great tide of immigra-
tion. In 1790 there were about 30,000 Cath-
olics in the thirteen colonies; in 1870 there
were'about 5,000,000 in the U. S.; in 1939.
about 20,700,000. The world total is esti-
mated at about 330,000,000. The Catholic
population of the New York archdiocese,
which includes Manhattan, the Bronx and
Richmond in the City of New York; and the

counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rock-
land, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester in
New York State, is about 1,000,000. The
diocese of Brooklyn numbers about 1,100,000,
and that of Newark, N. J.? about 750,000.

In 1929 the Lateran Treaty marked the re-
sumption of cordial relations between the
Vatican and the Kingdom of Italy, which
had been suspended some sixty years. This
treaty, made during the pontificate of Pius
xi. and while Mussolini was head of the
Italian government, restored the Pope's tem-
poral power over Vatican City, and he again
became an independent sovereign.

In 1933, a radio broadcasting station was
inaugurated at the Vatican, with an address
to the world delivered by Pope Pius XL

The year 1939 saw the death of Pius XL
and the elevation to the papacy of Cardinal
Eugenic Pacelli, as Pius xrr. By the death
of Cardinal Hayes of New York in 1938, and
of Cardinal Mundelein of Chicago in 1939,
the United States lost two of its four Cardi-
nals. The new Pope continued the policies of
his predecessor in attempting to prevent Eu-
rope from another great war.

Roman Catholic Emancipation. See
Catholic Emancipation*

Romance. The word roman meant orig-
inally nothing more than a literary composi-
tion written, not in Latin, but in some of the
vernacular tongues derived from Latin, es-
pecially French: fo* instance, the prose
chronicle of the crusades by William of Tyre,
being written in French, and happening to
mention the name of the Emperor Heraclius
early in its text, was known as Le Roman
d'Eracles. But as probably the largest and
certainly by far the most popular part of
vernacular literature during the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries consisted of adventurous
stories—sometimes in prose but rather more
commonly in verse—the connotation of the
name was gradually adjusted to its denota-
tion, and the original sense was entirely
merged in the secondary.

The kind of style which we call romance
is not absent from the literature of the Greeks
and Romans, but it is not largely present
there. To all intents and purposes the Odyssey
is a romance. Only at the confines of the clas-
sical period do we see something like ro-
mantic traits. These in Petronius may be due
to the old Italic spirit forcing itself up at
last through Greek culture; but in Lucian
and Apuleius it must certainly be taken in
connection with Asiatic and African influ-
ences, and these influences also appear in the