Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/328

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MICHOACAN


282


MICHOACAN


statutory allowance ami tlower instead of a bequest. There is no liniiuilion as to cliarilal)lo bequests.

Public iN.STnrriDNS. — .\sicle from the state in- stitutions already mentioned, there are four insane asylums, a home for the feeble-minded and eiiileptic, and a sanatoriutu for tubereulosis. Every county luus its poor farm for the indigent, and all charities are under the supervision of the State Board of Correc- tions and Charities.

Prisons and RcJ'onnaUyries. — There are two state prisons, at Jackson and at Marquette, a reformatory for male offenders at Ionia, and a house of correction for males and females at Detroit. The Industrial School for Boys at Lansing and the Industrial School for Girls at -\drian are reformatories.

Cemeteries may be established by municipalities or by private corporat ions or private citizens. The only limitation as to locality is in cases where it would create a nuisance.

Marriage and Divorce .—MuTriage is a civil con- tract in law; males of the age of eigliteen and females of the age of sixteen are competent to contract. First cousins as well as nearer relatives are forbidden to marry. Females under eighteen must have the writ- ten consent of one parent or of a guardian. A licence is required which is issued by the county clerk. Marriages may te solemnized by justices of the

Eeace, judges of probate and of municipal courts, and y resident ministers of the Gospel. All marriages must be recorded by the county clerk. No particular form is prescrited. but the parties must take each other as husband and wife. Two witnesses are required be- sides the magistrate or minister. Divorce from the bonds of mat rimony is granted for adultery, impotency, imprisonment for three years or over, desertion for two years, habitual drunkenness. Divorce " from bed and board " is granted for extreme cruelty, and where the husband Ijeing of sufficient ability fails to provide a suitable maintenance for his wife; but the court may grant an absolute divorce for either of these causes. A sentence to the state prison for life dissolves the marriage without any judicial divorce.

EccLESi.\.STic.\L Statistics. — This state comprises the Dioce.ses of Detroit, Grand Rapids, Sault Sainte Marie, and Marquette. It has 3 bishops, 466 prie.sts, 412 ecclesia-stical students, 306 churches, 193 missions, 208 stations and chapels, 2 seminaries, 8 orphan asylums, 1 infant asylum, 48,0.59 young people under Catholic care as pupils, orphans and dependents, 2 industrial schools for girls, 13 hospitals, 1 home for feeble-minded, 1 home for aged poor, and a Catholic population of 489,4.51. Michigan was under the con- trol of the See of Quebec until the formation of the Diocese of Baltimore (1789), under which it remained until it was included in the Diocese of BardstowTi (1S08), and later, when the new Diocese of Cincinnati wa.s created, Michigan w'as made a part of its territory. The descendants of the original French Canadians are numerically inferior to the descendants of the later Irish immigrants, who form the largest part of the Catholic population. There are also many Germans, Poles, some Lithuanians, Bohemians, Flemings, Italians, Syrians, and a few Indians. When Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati visited Michigan in 1832 he confirmed 142 Indians at L'.\rbre Croche. These now belong to the Diocese of Grand Rapids, which contains in all eighteen Indian missions with a popu- lation of 378 families, and three schools, two of which are taught by religious, the third by a lay teacher. The Diocese of Sault Sainte Marie and "Marquette contains about 2000 Catholic Indians in 12 Indian mi.ssions, attended by the Jesuit Fathers at Sault Sainte Marie, L'.\nse, and elsewhere. There are few Catholic Indians left in the Dioeese of Detroit. .\bout thirty families of the once powerful Pottawat- omies at Rush Lake in Berrien ('ounty are all that remain of the old mission of St. Joseph,


Catholics distinguished in Public Life. — Reverend -Gabriel Richartl and Timothy E. Tarsney were repre- sentatives in Congress. The following were members of the Territorial Legislative Council : Laurent Durocher, Henry Connor, John MoDonell, Charles Moran.

State. Senators: Edward Bradley, Laurent Durocher, John McDonell, Bernard O'Keilly. Circuit Judges: O'Brien J. Atkin.son, James B. McMahon, and Robert J. Kelley.

Prominent Members of the State House of Repre- sentatives were: John Atkinson, Theodore J. Campau.

Catholics at present living who have distinguished themselves publicly are: Thomas Weadock and John Corliss, both of whom were members of Congress; James Caplis, Peter Doran, Joseph Nagel, and Michael Moriarty, state senators; Circuit Judge Alfred J. Murphy;, members of the state House of Representa- tives John C. Donnelly, John Donovan, Nicholas Whelan ; and William T. McGurrin, Brigadier General of the Michigan National Guards ; also Judge of Re- corder's Court in Detroit, James Phelan, and Probate Judge of Ottawa County, Edward P. Kirby.

Campbell, History of Michigan; Historical Records in State Library; Sheldon, Early History of Michigan; Cooley, Michi- gan: Pattengill, Primer of Michigan History; Rezek, History of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette; Official Catholic Directory (1910); Records of the Dioceses of Detroit and Grand

^°P^'- Francis A. Stace.

Michoacan, Archdiocese of (Michoacanensis), in Mexico. — The Dioeese of Michoacan was estab- lished in 1536 by Pope Paul III at the instance of the Emperor Charles V, its boundaries to coincide with those of the ancient Kingdom of Michoacan. In 1863 it became an archdiocese, with Leon, Querdtaro, and Zamora for suffragans, its limits being at the same time greatly reduced. Its population is about one million, and the principal cities are Morelia, Zit4- cuaro, Maravatio, Patzcuaro, Puruandiro, and Piedad in the State of Michoacan, and Acambaro, Salva- tierra, Celaya, Salamanca, and Penjamo in the State of Guanajuato. The first bishop was the eminent Spaniard D. Vasco de Quiroga (1538-65), one of the greatest missionaries to the Mexican aborigines. Among other bishops of the Spanish period, the fol- lowing w'ere distinguished for their learning and vir- tue: Ramirez del Prado, who has t>een compared to St. Charles Borromeo; Sanchez de Tagle, who founded the conciliar seminary [seminario triJcntino) for the diocese in 1770; Fray Antonio de San Miguel, builder of the great aqueduct of Morelia and commonly spoken of as the father of his people. Of the bishops who have governed the Diocese of Michoacan only two have been natives of Mexico, Portugal and Mun- guia. The latter was named archbishop in 1863. Portugal was the first American ecclesiastic to be named a cardinal by the pope, although he died be- fore receiving the cardinal's hat. Munguia was the author of some very excellent books on law and phi- losophy, and lived up to his motto: " Lose wealth, but save principles". D. Ignacio .\rciga and D. Ateno- genes Silva succeeded Archbishop Munguia and, in the epoch of peace which the republic has since en- joyed, have acnieved some notable results.

The liljrary of the Seminary of Morelia numbers 76,000 volumes ; there is also a physical laboratory and valuable astronomical apparatus. In every one of the 64 parishes and the 18 succursal parishes of thearch- d iocese there is at leas t one school for boys and another for girls. At Morelia the schools are very numerous, the attendance being over three thousand, boys and girls. Celaya, .Salvatierra, and Piedad have four parochial schools each, and several other parishes have two. Several charitable in.stitutions are admirably main- tained by the clergy. In times of .scarcity, when the priceof com goes up, the diocesan ant horil ies follow the example of the great Bishop Sun .Miguel, who, in 1785, with the consent of the cathedral chapter, expended