Herzegovina; Or, Omer Pacha and the Christian RebelsArbuthnot, George
History
Herzegovina; Or, Omer Pacha and the Christian Rebels
Arbuthnot, George
Hercegovina (Bosnia and Hercegovina) -- History; Serbia
The Church is governed by two bishops. One, resident at Mostar, bears
the title of Bishop of Azotto, and Vicar-Apostolic of the Herzegovina.
The other, called the Bishop of Trebigné, lives at Ragusa, which is also
included in his see. He has, however, a Vicar resident in the district
of Stolatz. As in Bosnia, the monks are all of the Franciscan order.
Considerable attention is paid to their education, and they are in every
way immeasurably superior to the parochial clergy. In connection with
that brotherhood a college has been for some years established, about
twelve miles distant from Mostar. The subjects of education there are
Latin, Italian, Slavish, Church History, and Theology. From this college
the students proceed to Rome, where they are admitted into the
Franciscan order.
In the above remarks, I have endeavoured to show that the Christianity
which exists in these provinces is merely nominal, since it is devoid of
all those gentle and humanising principles which should distinguish it
from Islamism, whose tenets have been ever propagated by conquest and
the sword. The vices which more especially accompany and mar the beauty
of true Christian civilisation here hold unrestrained dominion, and both
Greeks and Catholics present a painful combination of western cunning
and intrigue and oriental apathy, while they are devoid of that spirit
of devotion and dignified resignation to the will of Providence which
preeminently characterise the religion of Mahomet. Living on the
confines of the two hemispheres, they have inherited the sins of each,
without the virtues of either the one or the other. Nearly all adults
are addicted to drunkenness, while the use of foul and indelicate
language is almost universal,--men, women, and children employing it in
common conversation. So long as such a state of things shall prevail, it
is clearly impossible that any material improvement can be brought
about; and until the people show some inclination to improve their own
condition, the sympathy or consideration of others is uncalled-for and
misplaced. The perpetual Russian whine about eight millions of
Christians being held in galling subjection by four millions of Turks is
a miserable deception, which, although it may serve as a pretext for
their own repeated acts of interference, cannot mislead those who have
seen anything of these countries, or who have been brought into contact
with their Christian inhabitants. The most effective course, probably,
which either the bitterest enemy or the warmest friend of the Ottoman
government could pursue, would be to disseminate the seeds of true
Christianity throughout the length and breadth of the land. And I say
this advisedly; for on the future conduct of the Porte would depend
whether such a course might lead to the establishment of Turkish
supremacy, or to its irretrievable overthrow. That an enlightened
nation, 'at unity in itself,' could cast off the yoke of an oppressive
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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