DIOCESE OF GALLE (GALLENSIS).

Diocese in Ceylon, created by Leo XIII 25 Aug., 1893, by detaching two civil provinces, the Southern (2146 sq. miles) and Sabaragamuwa (1901 sq. miles), from the Archdiocese of Colombo. The total population is about 900,000, of whom 10,160 are (1909) Catholics. Besides a few Europeans and burghers of mixed descent, the population includes Singalese, Moors, and Tamils. There is a still greater religious diversity: Sivites, Parsees, Mohammedans, Protestants of various denominations, mostly, however, Buddhists of the Southern type. For these reasons the conversion of the non-Catholic population is difficult; the racial and religious differences affect seriously the instruction of the faithful, sparsely scattered over a large area. Leo XIII entrusted the new diocese to the Belgian Jesuits, and appointed as first bishop the Very Rev. Joseph Van Reeth, rector of the novitiate at Tronchiennes (Belgium). The bishop-elect (b. 6 Aug., 1843) was consecrated on 19 March, 1895, in Antwerp, his native town. Accompanied by three priests and one lay brother, he took possession of his see 9 Nov., 1895, since when progress has been slow but steady. The clergy comprises 22 Jesuits and 5 secular priests (4 natives and 1 European ), residing in eleven centres, each having its church, mission-house, and school. The Catholic population has been doubled. The number of confessions has risen from 6381 (1897) to 27,956 (1908), and that of Communions from 7196 to 48,000. In 1897 only 335 boys and 376 girls attended the 14 Catholic schools, of which 9 had been opened that year; there are now (1909) some 2140 boys and 1009 girls in 39 schools. In 1901 was opened St. Aloysius's College, under the Jesuit Fathers, with 300 pupils. Belgian sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary render praiseworthy help. They have a convent in Galle (1896) and one in Matara (1908), while a third is being built at Kegalla. To the Galle convent is attached a room for lace-making, work from which won a gold medal at the St. Louis Exhibition (U.S.A.) in 1904. A similar institution has been started at Matara.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online