QUEEN'S DAUGHTERS
69
QUEEN'S DAUGHTERS
mission wa.s entrusted to the Lyons Society of African
Missions. R. P. Oswald Waller, b. at Bennwihr,
Alsatia, 24 Jan., 1866; ordained, 10 July, 1892,
sent to the mission in Egypt, then to Dahomey in
1898, and to Nigeria in 1906; was appointed first
prefect Apostolic on 26 Sept., 1911. He resides at
Shendam, Demshi.
Ntgata, in Japan. — This mission was erected into a prefecture Apostolic on 13 Aug., 1912, and com- mitted to the care of the Society of the Divine Word, of Steyl. It comprises the Provinces of Akita, Yamagata, Nygata, formerly part of the Diocese of Hakodate: and Toyama, Ishikawa, and Fukui, part of the Archdiocese of Tokio and the Diocese of Osaka. On 19 Nov., 1912, R. P. Joseph Reiners was appointed the first prefect Apostolic. He re- sides at Nygata.
PcTDMAYO, in Peru. — This mission was erected into a prefecture Apostolic on 4 Oct., 1912, and was confided to the Friars Minor; R. P. Leo Sambook was appointed first prefect Apostolic in Nov., 1912. The establishment of this mi,ssion was the outcome of the agitation stirred up in the British Parliament by a detailed account of the atrocities perpetrated on the unfortunate Indians b.v the officials of a British rubber company operating in Putumayo, a distant district of Peru, at the head waters of the .Amazon. For years this company had forced the Indians to collect crude rubber for them in the forests, and enforced their orders by tortures and scourging, inflicted by negro overseers imported from the Barbados for the pun'ose. Even women and children were not spared. The charges made by Sir Roger Casement, who visited the district at the request of the British Government, were in the main corrobor- ated by the report of Romulo Paredes, a special independent investigator sent to the region by the Peruvian Government. For years the few mis- sionaries in the district had appealed to the Peruvian authorities, when the opportunity presented itself, to protect the Indians, but until the agitation pro- voked by the revelations in England occurred and action was taken by the British and United States governments, no attention was paid to their petitions on behalf of the suffering natives.
Teffe, in Brazil, erected by a Decree dated 23 May, 1910, when together with the prefecture
Apostolic of Upper Solimoes it was se))arated from
the Diocese of Araazonas or Manaos. The missions
in Tf'ff^ and and Upper Solimoes were undertaken in
1897 by the Fathers of the Holy Ghost and the Im-
maculate Heart of Marj-, under R. P. Libermann at
the request of Mgr. da Costa-Aguiar, Bishop of
Amazonas, whose immense diocese erected only five
years earlier was practically devoid of priests. The
first mission was established by R. P. Berthon in
June, 1907 at Teff6, a town on the .Amazon 700 miles
from Manaos, and 1600 miles from the Atlantic.
It is situated at the confluence of the Teffe and the
Solimoes (or Upper Amazon), opposite the mouth
of the Jai)ura; the missionaries have been greatly
aided in their work by the co-operation of the local
government authorities. They have established at
Teff6 a large orphanage and industrial school for
the young Indians, on a site donated for the purpose
by the municipal authorities. The first prefect
Apostolic is R. P. Michel-Alfred Barat, b. at Cler-
mont, France, on 12 Nov., 1864; missionary in the
Amazon district since 1897; appointed superior of
the prefecture in May, 1910.
Tripoli. — This prefecture was erected into the Vicariate Apostolic of Libya by a Decree dated 23 Feb., 1913.
Welle.— By a Decree of 18 Dec, 1911, the Prefecture Apostolic of WelliS was divided into Eastern and Western Well6; the line of separation being the 26° 30' E. long. Each division was made a prefecture Apostolic. Western Well6 remained under the care of the Premonstratensians of the Abbey of Tongerloo, Belgium. Eastern Well6 was entrusted to the Dominicans; its first prefect Apostolic is R. P. Reginald Van Schoote, who was ap- pointed on 12 Jan., 1912. He resides at Amadi.
Zambesi. — The eastern boundary of the Zambesi mission was changed by a Decree of 28 June, 1912, and is now: the Portuguese Mozambique territory to 15° S. lat., then the rivers Luangwa, Lukasashi and Mlembo as far as the south-east corner of Belgian Congo.
Acta Apostolica Sedis (Rome, 1909 — ); Battandier, An- nuaire pontifical catholique (Paris, 1908-13); Missiones ca~ tholiccB (Rome, 1907); Piglet, Les missions eathotiques /ran- caises au XIX> aiicle (Paris, 1901-03).
A. A. MacErlean.
Q
Queen's Daughters (Daughters of the Queen
OF Heaven, Filit, Regin.e Cceli), a religious and
charitable society founded at St. Louis, Mo., 5 Dec,
1889, by Miss Mary Ho.xsey. It was organized to
supplement the work done for the poor in their homes
by the members of the Conference of St. Vincent
de Paul. The project received the approbation and
encouragement of the Very Rev. P. P. Brady in
whose parish it was inaugurated, and several years
later the papal sanction and blessing were accorded
(17 July, 1894). The society has since spread to
numerous parishes of the United States and there
are now thirty-five associations affiliated to tho.se
at St. Louis. The constitution of the society pro-
vides that it shall be governed by a general council
composed of subordinate councils and associations.
Five or more associations in a diocese have the right
of forming a subordinate council with its own by-
laws and officers. The society was incorporated
on 6 Jan., 1902. The Queen's Daughters visit the
poor in their homes and afford them spiritual and
material aid. They eiiileavour to influence those
who neglect their religious duties or the rehgious
training of their children, they teach Christian doctrine
in mission Sunday-schools, and assist in preparing
persons for baptism, and in providing suitable
clothing for the first Communion of children whose
parents are unable to make such provision. Their
organizations include sewing-guilds, cooking-schools,
boai'ding-liomes for women and girls, sanctuary
guilds :ind altar societies. At their Saturday in-
dustrial schools for children the children of the poor
are taught to sew and be self-helpful. Here also
they are brought in contact with the members of
the Gu;irdian Angel Bands, th(! children of well-to-do
parents, who are taught to make garments for the
poor and to be gcn(-rally helpful and sympathetic
to their poorer companions. The usual work in
connexion with juvenile courts is done according
to instructions provided by court officials. The
members of several religious congregations are honor-
ary members of the as.sociation. Representative of
these are the White Sisters of the Nazareth Home,
Providence, R. I., who maintain a day nur.sery and
visit the sick poor in their homes and to whom the
society is pledged to contribute a specified sum
monthly. The patroness of the society is the Blessed
Virgin; and its motto "Ad Majorcm Dei
Gloriani",
Blanche M. Kelly.