PORTOVIEJO
294
PORTRAITS
puted, except the properties formerly belonging to the
suppressed communities, which Spain had held for
the last half centurj-, allowing the suits in other cases
to pass b)' default in favour of the Church. The
Church property question was therefore duly brought
before the Supreme Court of the island, which, after
a long delay, handed down a decision by a vote of three
to two, sustaining in principle the claims of the
Church. From this decision an appeal was made to
the Supreme Court of the United States.
Meanwhile the municipaUtj' of Ponce, unwilling to be guided by the policy of the insular Government, insisted upon laying claim to the two parish churches of that city, alleging that a goodly portion of the cost of the said edifices had been paid for with its funds. This suit was presented to the Supreme Court of the island, where judgment was given in favour of the bishop, and then carried immecUately to Washington for a final decision. The importance of this matter was far in excess of the value of the properties at issue, for it involved not only ownership of nearly every church in the island, but also was bound largely to determine the outcome of the suit still pending before the same court in reference to all other church prop- erties. The question of the bearing of the Concordat of 1851 upon the actual situation was most serious, in- volving the future security of the Church in the island.
In June, 190S, Chief Justice Fuller handed down a decision confirming the sentence obtained by the CathoUc Church before the Supreme Court of the island against the municipahty of Ponce, which was greatly enhanced by the luminous declaration con- tained in his opinion, upholding the force of the Con- cordat as an ancient law of the island and establishing beyond doubt the judicial personality of the head of the Cathohc Church in Porto Rico, without being required to register under the laws governing business corporations.
This decision was accepted by the Porto Rican Government as a forerunner of a favourable outcome for the Church in its appeal then pending before the same court in reference to the properties in question. As the United States Government, both at Washing- ton and in Porto Rico, was concerned in this decision, it was agreed by all parties interested to abide by the sentence of a commission appointed by President Roosevelt, composed of two members for the United States, two for the Ch\u-ch, and two for the Porto Rican Government.
Under the presidency of Robert Bacon, then as- sistant secretarj' of state, an agreement was speedily reached by the commission in August, 190S, by which the settlement of eleven claims at issue between the Catholic Church on one side and the United States and Porto Rican Government on the other was made on a basis of equity, whereby the Church was assured the sum of about §300,000 for the release to the State of the properties involved in Utigation.
More than one-half this sum was paid from insular funds, for which the approval of the Porto Rican Government was obtained in the following month. The part of the total sum that was apportioned to the Federal Government for properties utilized by the United States Army was likewise ratified by Congress in the following session, and approved by the Presi- dent of the United States, thus terminal ing in an amicable manner a vexed question agitated for more than ten years and involving the only available in- come for the impoverished diocese.
The Diocese of Porto Rico at present is comprised of 78 parishes, which with few exceptions have resi- dent clergy, a large number of whom are members of the religious bodies. The Lazarists, .Vugiistinians, and Capuchins from Spain, the Dominicans from Holland, the Redemptorisis from Baltimore, are each doing invaluable service for the preservation of the Faith. The people are poor and unaccustomed to con-
tribute to the support of their religion and its minis-
ters. The amount received from the Government is
invested so as to provide a limited annuity for aiding
priests in the poorer missions, and assisting in the sup-
port of educational and charitable institutions. About
300 women belonging to the different religious com-
munities are located in the diocese, engaged chiefly in
the schools and hospitals. The Carmelite nuns. Sis-
ters of Charity, Religious of the Sacred Heart, and
Servants of Mary were established in Spanish times;
since the American occupation the ISIission Helpers of
the Sacred Heart have erected an asylum for the deaf
and dumb, and taken charge of the chapel of Perpetual
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament ; the Sisters of St.
Francis, from Buffalo, New York, have founded two
parish schools and a novitiate for the reception of
postulants. The Sisters of St. Dominic, of Brooklyn,
New York, are in charge of the parish school at Baya-
mon, ha\-ing been sent to the island by the Bishop of
Brooklyn at the personal request of Pius X. By the
Brief Actum Pra?clara; of 20 Feb., 1903, the Diocese
of Porto Rico was severed from the province of San-
tiago de Cuba, and made immediately subject to the
Holy See, the two islands still continuing under the
direction of the one Apostolic delegate.
On 8 Aug., 1911, the Diocese of San Juan will have completed the fourth centenary of its foundation. Extensive plans are devised for the proper celebra- tion of this event. Apart from the contemplated renovation of the cathedral, it is hoped to establish a beneficent institution which will include a manual training school for both boys and girls.
Bull lUius fulcUi in Archivo de Indias (Seville); Bull Pon- tifex Romanus in Archivo de Simancas; documents in Episcopal Archives, San Juan and Porto Rico; Brau, La Colonizacion de Puerto Rico (San Juan, 1907); Axgulo in Perujo. Diccionario de Ciencias Eclesidsticas; America in Consistorial Congregation's Acta, Records Amer. Cath. Hist. Soc. (Philadelphia, 1889-90), X, XI; U. S. Census Report for Porto Rico (1910).
W. A. Jones.
Portoviejo, Diocese of (Portus Veteris), a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Quito, Republic of Ecuador. It was erected in 1871 and its jurisdiction extends over the pohtical pro\-inces of Manabiand Es- meraldas, with a Cathohc population (1909) of 78,000 souls, and forty-six parishes. Besides the secular priests of the diocese, there are the following religioua orders: Capuchins, in charge of the missions in the northern section of the Province of Esmeraldas; Ob- lates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, engaged in secon- dary' instruction. The religious orders of women are: Benedictines, Franciscans, and Sisters of Charity, all devoted to the education of girls. The Seminario IMayor is situated at Portoviejo, the see of the diocese, and was organized in 1888. There are also several schools and colleges, prominent among which is the College of San Jose, conducted by the Oblates of the Sacred Heart. The present bishop is Mgr Juan Maria Riesa, a Dominican, whose consecration took place 19 Dec, 1907.
Anniiaire Poritifical Catholique (Paris, 1911). s. v.
Julian AIoreno-Lacalle.
Portraits of the Apostles. — The earliest fresco representing Chri.-^t surrounded by the Apostles dates from the beginning of the fourth century. It was dis- covered in the cemetery of Domitilla, under a thick covering of stalactites. Christ is seated on a throne, His feet resting on a footstool, and His right hand raised in the oratorical gesture. Six other frescoes of this subject, Christ instructing the Apostles, have been found in the Roman catacombs. Besides these groups, showing the entire Ajiostolic college, portions of two other frescoes which originally represented only the two chief Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, on either siile of Christ, h:ivc been discovered. In one of these frescoes the figure of St. Peter and a small portion of Christ's are preserved; no trace of St. Paul remains. The second fresco, on the other hand, preserves St.
