The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
flowers, fruits, and other produce to market. The daily contact of
the peasantry with metropolitan life has had a bad effect on their
morals. At these points the church is chiefly attended by Parisians
who spend a portion of the year at their villas.
But while we feel constrained to admit that there is a great deal
of religious indifference among the male population, it is pleasant
to feel justified in saying that France is able to boast of a large
body of ecclesiastics whose zeal and piety must command the genuine
admiration of the Catholic world. In the year 1865, there were only
837 vacancies in the 31,388 parishes into which France is divided.
The budget for 1869 appropriates salaries for the incumbents of 106
new parishes, and 50 new vicarages. The ecclesiastics in France
number 45,000--a very high percentage in a population of thirty-eight
millions, of whom about a million are non-Catholics. At the same
time, the pay is very small. Not half the parish priests have an
income exceeding 1500 francs per annum, while several thousands have
no more than 1200, (two hundred and forty dollars in gold.) Only the
incumbents of the comparatively few parishes of the first and second
classes--numbering little above 3000 all told--have an addition of
from 1200 to 1500 francs yearly from the state. The income of the
canons varies from 1600 to 1800 francs, rarely reaching 2400, and
this leaves them partly dependent on mass stipends and casuals.
Many bishops are obliged to make extra allowances out of their own
pockets to the canons of their cathedrals. The archbishops, who
are also senators and cardinals with extra pay attached to these
dignities, enjoy large revenues, ranging from 120,000 to 150,000
francs, all of which they sorely need. Mons. Morlot, the late
Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, imperial land almonier and peer of
France, had an annual income of 230,000 francs. Of this sum he had,
however, set aside from the beginning 30,000 francs for distribution
among the Paris poor. Although this estimable prince of the church
enjoyed his income for several years, he left not enough at his
death to bury him, and the expenses of his funeral had to be paid by
the emperor. The demands on the purses of these high ecclesiastics
are so heavy that they are constrained to practise the most rigid
economy, unless they possess independent fortunes. The household of a
French bishop or archbishop usually consists of a private secretary,
a coachman, a man-servant, and a cook, who is generally the wife of
the coachman or servant. His house, furniture, carriage, are all of
the plainest description. A bishop does not entertain what is called
company. On special occasions he may invite some clergymen to his
table, but nothing more. If business calls him to Paris, or some
other place outside of his diocese, he takes his secretary with him,
and puts up at one of those quiet hotels patronized by religious.
When away from home, he always appears in public either on foot or
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