was remarkable for two important events in the history of Allahabad. The first was the holding of the Diocesan Synod in the cathedral. The second was that the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda entrusted the mission to the Capuchin Province of Bologna, Italy. In 1892, the districts of Chupra, Mozafforpur, Darbhunga, Bettiah, and a part of the Bhagalpur and Munghyr districts, and the Kingdom of Nepal were made the Prefecture Apostolic of Bettiah and Nepal. On 9 July, 1896, Dr. Francis Pesci, Bishop of Allahabad, died at Lyon, France. Father Charles Gentili was chosen to be his successor, 29 March, 1897. He was consecrated on 29 June of the same year and transferred to Agra, 27 August, 1898. On the corresponding date of the following year, Father Victor Sinibaldi was nominated bishop, and consecrated, 30 November, 1899. His pastoral rule was short-lived, as he died, 5 January, 1902. On the 10th and 12th of November, 1903, the first General Congress assembled at Allahabad, at which were present two archbishops, one bishop, two administrators-apostolic, one prefect-apostolic, three superiors-regular, thirty priests, and more than 200 delegates. When Bishop Sinibaldi died, Father Petronius Gramigna ruled the diocese in the capacity of administrator, from 1902 to 10 August, 1904, when he was nominated bishop, and consecrated in St. Joseph's cathedral, 18 October, 1904.
The Catholic population of the diocese is 8,800, out of a total of 38,174,000, mostly composed of Mussulmans and Hindus. Benares, the sacred city of the latter, and the centre of their religious activity, lies within the limits of the diocese. There are in the mission 22 Capuchin Fathers, 3 secular priests, 18 Christian Brothers, 2 Brothers of the Third Order of St. Francis, 74 nuns of the Institute of the B.V.M., 9 Loretto nuns, 7 sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis. There are six orphanages, male and female, with about 450 boys and girls. The number of educational establishments is 4, consisting of colleges, convents, high schools, boarding- and day-schools, with 1,468 pupils of both sexes.
Catholic Calendar and Directory of the Diocese of Allahbad; The Madras Catholic Directory; The Life of the Right Rev. Dr. Hartmann; Quadros Biographicos dos Padres Illustres de Goa.
Allard, Paul, archæologist and historian, b. at Rouen 15 September, 1841, admitted to the bar and practised law for a short time in his native city, where he became a judge of the civil court. His literary and his historical tastes induced him to abandon his profession and devote himself to the study of the history of the Church in the first four centuries. He contributed frequently to the "Revue des Questions Historiques", of which he became editor in 1904, and to various other publications. In 1874 he translated Northcote and Brownlow's "Roma Sotterranea", made many additions to it, and enriched it with valuable notes. An intimate acquaintance with Giovanni Battista De Rossi and his own studies along various lines, led him to undertake a history of the persecutions suffered by the Christians at the hand of the Roman authorities. The work was planned on very broad lines and executed with a remarkable degree of minuteness and finality. The author was well fitted for his task; his sympathies were Catholic and his reading extensive; he had a minute knowledge of Christian archæology, especially in regard to the Roman Catacombs; he had studied the condition of the Christian slaves, and had a thorough acquaintance with epigraphy and the administrative and constitutional history of Rome. Above all he was well acquainted with the history and spirit of Roman law, and was competent to pronounce judgment on the delicate legal questions involved in the history of the relations between the Christian Church and the Roman State during the era of the persecutions. On this subject his researches have done much to elucidate difficult and debatable points, though his conclusions have not been generally accepted. The main idea of M. Allard's "History of the Persecutions" is that the Christians were unjustly treated by the Roman authorities. He will not admit that there was any incompatibility between the spread of Christianity and the permanence of the Roman Empire, though the acceptance of Christianity by the people necessarily implied the final eradication of the old Roman cults and superstitions. The action of the Roman authorities he regards as ill-advised and brutal. Their treatment of the Christians arose from no reasons of statesmanship or adherence to tradtional policy, but was based entirely on low and unworthy motives. The causes of the persecutions he finds in the blind hatred of the Roman authorities against this "third race", in fanaticism, popular fury, or, as in the case of Maximus and Decius, very largely in private spleen. If any fault can be found with the work of Allard, it is that he appears too ready to accept as contemporary historical sources mere legends and traditions. He followed the example of Le Blant in thinking that most legends and Acta contained some kernel of truth. He is not sufficiently radical in his criticism of the "Acta Martyrum" and of other documents, e.g. the "De Mortibus Persecutorum", of Lactantius, all the assertions of which he seems to accept as testimony of the first order. He leans too strongly to the side of conservatism, and the scientific value of many pages of his work is spoiled by his reluctance to deal unsparingly with dubious and spurious Acta and Passiones. Many instances of this kind might be pointed out, as for example the account of the death of St. Irenæus, the story of Symphorosa, etc. These remarks, however, do not apply to his work on Julian the Apostate, in which he shows more discrimination in the use of his hagiographical material; it is consequently the most valuable of his writings. His principal works are "Rome souterraine" (Paris, 1874); "Les esclaves Chrétiens depuis les premiers temps de L'Eglise jusqu'a la fin de la domination romaine en occident", (Paris, 1876); "L'art païen sous les empereurs chrétiens" (Paris, 1879); "Histoire des persécutions pendant les deux premiers siècles" (2d ed., Paris, 1892); "Histoire des persecutions pendant la premiere moitié du troisième siecle" (Paris, 1881); "La persecution de Diocletien et le triomphe de l'Eglise" (2 vols., Paris, 1890); "Le Christianisme et l'empire romain" (Paris, 1896); "Etudes d'histoire et d'archéologie" (Paris, 1898); "St. Basile" (ibid., 1899); "Julien l'apostat", 2 vols. (ibid, 1900).
Allatius (Alacci), Leo, a learned Greek of the seventeenth century, b. on the island of Chios in 1586 and d. at Rome, 19 January, 1669. He entered the Greek college at Rome in 1600, spent three years in Lucania with his countryman, Bishop Bernard Giustiniani, and then returned to Chios where he proved of great assistance to the Latin Bishop, Marco Giustiniani. In 1616, he received the degree Doctor of Medicine from the Sapienza, was made Scriptor in the Vatican library, and, later, professor of rhetoric at the Greek College, a position which he held for only two years. Pope Gregory XV sent him to Germany, in 1622, to bring to Rome the Palatinate library of Heidelberg, which Maximilian had presented to the Pope in return for war subsidies, a task which he accomplished in the face of great difficulties. In the death of Gregory XV (1623) Alatius lost his principal patron: but with the support of influential cnurchmen, he continued his researches,
