HAITI
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HAITI
rich and splendid robes of men in high worldlyposi-
tions. St. Athanasius, St. John Damascene, Theo-
doret, and many others also bear testimony to its use
in their times. Cassian, however, (hsapproved of it
being used by monks, as if worn outside it was too con-
spicuous and savoured of vanity and if underneath it
hindered the freedom of tlie body in performing man-
ual labour. St. Benedict does not mention it specif-
ically in his rule, but van Haeften maintains that it
was worn by many of the early Benedictines, though
not prescribed universally throughout the order.
Later on, it was adopted by most of the religious orders of the Middle Ages, in imitation of the early ascetics, and in order to increase the discomfort caused by its use it was sometimes even made of fine wire. It was not confined to the monks, but continued to he fairly common amongst lay people also. Charle- magne, for instance, was buried in the hairshirt he had worn during life (Martene, " De Ant. Eccl. Rit."). The same is recorded of St. Thomas of Canterbury. There was also a symbolic use made of hair-cloth. St. Au- gustine says that in his time candidates for baptism stood with bare feet on hair-cloth during a portion of the ceremony (De Symb. ad Catech., ii, 1). Penitents W'Ore it on Ash Wednesday, and in the Sarum Rite a hair-cloth banner was carried in procession at their reconciliation on Maundy Thursday. The altar, too, was sometimes covered with the same material at penitential seasons. In modern times the use of the hairshirt has been generally confined to the members of certain religious orders. At the present day only the Carthusians and Carmelites wear it by rule; with others it is merely a matter of custom or voluntary mortification. Objections have been raised against its use on sanitary grounds, but it must be remembered that ideas as to personal cleanliness have changed with the advance of civilization, and that what was consid- ered a sign of, or aid to, piety in past ages need not necessarily be regarded in the same light now, and vice versa, but the ideas and practices of the ancients must not for that reason te condemned by us, because we happen to think differently.
Van Haeften. Monast. D-isquis. (Antwerp, 1544). V, viii: ZocKLER, Kril. Ceschichle der Askejie (Frankfort. 186.3); L'r- BANvin Kirchenlex., s. v. Cilicium; Hauck in Realencj/klopticlie (Leipzig, 189S), s. v. Cilicium; Cheetham in Did. Christ. Antiq. (London, 1875), s. v. Haircloth.
G. Cyprian Alston.
Haiti (Sp. Santo Domingo, Hispaniola), an island of the Greater Antilles.
I. Statistics. — The area is 28,980 square miles; population, about 1,900.000. The chief products are coffee, sugar, cotton, and tobacco.
Political. — The island is divided into the Republic of Santo Domingo in the east, and the negro Republic of Haiti in the west. The latter covers 11, 070 square miles with L.'iTO.eSO inhabitants in 1909 (Church sta- tistics). The language is a debased French (Creole) ; the religion. Catholic, although the natives are still widely infected with African fetichism (Voodoo or snake-worship). Education is deficient; it requires a yearly appropriation of about 1,000,000 dollars. In addition to nearly 400 State free elementary schools, there are five public hjcces.
The president is the head of the Republic (salary-, £4800). The Chamber of Deputies consists of ninety-five members. The Senate numbers thirty- nine members. The revenue amounted for the finan- cial year ending 30 Sept., 1907, to S2..i47,664 (U. S. gold), and 7,718,291 paper gmirde^ (value 20c., lOd.). The expenditure for the financial year 1907-08 was .?2,651,249 (U. S. gold), and 6,885.660 paper gourdes. In 1907 the foreign debt was S11,S01,861; the home debt, .?13,08.5,.362. The army consi.sts of 6828 men; there is a special "guard of the government," num- bering 650 men, commanded by 10 generals. The Republic possesses a fleet of six small vessels. The exports were valued in 1907 at 814,330,887, of which
nearly $3,000,000 went to the United States— in
1906-07, 82,916,104, while the imports from the
United States to Haiti for the same period were only
81,274,678. The capital is Port-au-Prince (popula-
tion, 75,000).
II. Political History. — Haiti (i. e. the "hilly coimtry ") was discovered by Columbus, 6 December, 1492. In December, 1493, Columbus founded Fort Isaliella, which was soon re-named Santo Domingo. • — As the aborigines soon Ijccame extinct the importa- tion of negroes began about 1517. But the colony fell into decay, when, about 163S, the filibusters ob- tained a footing on Santo Domingo, and harassed commerce. After 1639 French settlements were established on the west of the i.sland with the help of the filibusters, which led to the definite occupation by the French at the Peace of Ryswijck (1097). While the parts left to the Spaniards became more and more impoverished and depopulated, the French colony flourished greatly until the French Revolution also affected Haiti, and there led to an insurrection of the blacks in which the negro Toussaint L'Ouverture finally in 1800 made himself dictator, declared Haiti's independence, and gave the coimtry a constitution. He was soon overthrown by the French general Le- clerc and sent to France. The negro Dessalines, the author of a massacre of whites in 1804, was pro- claimed James I, Emperor of Haiti, 8 Oct., 1804, but he was murdered two years later in a conspiracy under Christophe and Petion.
Christophe thereupon established another negro State in the north which he ruled from 181 1 to 1820 as King Henry I; while P(^'tion in the south founded a mulatto republic, and Spain re-con(|Uered the eastern part which she had surrendered to France at the Peace of Basle (1795). Christophe's successor, Boyer, united all three parts of the island in 1822, but he was driven out in 1843, and the eastern part de- clared itself the independent Dominican Republic on 27 Feb., 1844. The western part became again an "empire" under Soulouciue (Emperor Faustin I) in 1849, but a republic was again proclaimed by the mulatto Geffrard after the expulsion of Soulouque in 1859. Geffrard was displaced by the negro party under Salnave, 13 March, 1S()7. Then followed a succession of presidents, who were nearly all dist\irbed by revolutions, and under whom the republic w-as brought to the verge of ruin by civil wars, financial maladministration, corruption, and thoughtlessly oc- casioned conflicts with European Powers. Even to-day (1909) the country has not yet settled down after the last revolution in the autumn of 1908.
III. M1S.S10N History. — On the erection of the Dio- ceses of Santo Domingo and Concepcion do la ^'ega, in 1511, the whole island was divided between these bishoprics. In 1527 Concepcion was suppressed, and its territory united to Santo Domingo, which was the only diocese till 1862. Many regular clergy came with the French into the French territory, especially Dominicans and Capuchins. The Dominicans de- voted themselves especially to the mission in the west- ern part of the colony, and were for a time supported therein by other orders and secular priests.
The Dominicans were also designated as mission- aries to the southern part of the island. The Capu- chins, who looked after the northern part of the islam!, and were likewise a-ssisted by other orders and by secular priests, soon were unable to supply enough missionaries. On that account they gave up this mis- sion in 1704, and in their place came the Jesuits, who worked there until their expulsion at the end of 1763. Secular priests followed, but after five years they were superseilcd by Capuchins.
The Revolution "brought confusion into the ranks of the clergy; several priests took the constitutional oath, and" in the northern part of the colony Divine worship ceased, while the mission in the west, uninter-
