THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 60, 20 June 1874, Page 11

THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY.

THR following particulars and statistics of the Hierarchy of the Catholic Chinch, published by tho Catholic Union of Ireland will be of interest lo our readers Hi* Holiness Pius IX , a the two hundred and hfty -mrl. . successor of St. Peter, and is, consequently, the two o1"™o 1 "™ and fifty-seventl, Pope. Ho was born at, Simgaglia on May 13, 1792. Ho v now in lm eighty-second year, and in the fiOv-fifch year ot Ins Priesthood, in tho forty-seventh year of his Epiacopacv and tho twenty -citflit yjar of his Pontificate, lhe College of Cardinals may reach to the number of seventy-two, but they have scarcely ever passed the number of seventy. The UmlinaUe is divided into" three orders— Bishops, Priests nnd Deacons. The number of Cardinal Bishops may be sis, the Oardm-il Priests fifty, and the Cardinal Deacons sixteen. Ordinal ily speaking, a Cardinal must bo at lea«t in the holy ord.>r ol Deaconship, bub the Pope can select for the honour blinpk- laymen, who, however, must then enter hoy orde.-s At present the number of the S.H'ivd College is fifty-throe. The Dean ol the Sacred Colleg-is Cardinal Patrizi, who is alsj the Vicar General of the Holy Faih;r. His eminence is in his seveaty-sevanth year Cardinal Antonelli, Cardinal- >eacon of St. Maria in Via Lata, is' in his sixty eighth year. Next, in rank to the Cardin-iU is the Patmrohs There are ten P.itriachs, of whom the chief is tho Sovereign Pontiff and nas tlie tale of fatri irch of the West. Th • other PatTinre'is arc those <>f Constan inople, according to the Latin rite— fir the Patriarch according to the Greek .-ire is a »chi*mut»« ; of Alexandria, a-fordm* to tlie L.itm rite ; of Antioch, where there are four recognised Catho' lie Prttnarchs— lhe fir-t accord. ng to the LuUn rite; the second according to tho Syriac ; tho third, ocsording to the Maronite : and the fourth, according to the Greek Melchitc; of Jerusilem, according to the f.ntm nto; of B.ibylon, according to ilie CluldaM rite- of Cilicm, aocordiuy to the Armenian rite; of the We»t Indies ficcordui"to tin- Latin rue; of Li,b >n. arordm^ to »hu Luin nt- ■ of Vdnice" accoidmg to th-3 Latin rite. Ike oldest of the Patmreh is Moiisi-»nor Has^oiin, Pa'riarch ol Cilici.i. The Episcopacr i, the highest order in tieOii.in-h, eouiUingin if, l(9 it does, the Pope, Cird.iul-B.shops the greater parr of the Cardinal-priests, and the Patriarch-. In order uf dignity, next come Pnrn.teg, Metropolitan Ar.-li bishops, Bishops with territorial jtiriadictmi, Hidiops in partlbus inftdelium, &o. Nexc come Vic.ns-Apos.tohf, ai-d Apostolic Prefectures— tho Vicars Apostolic enjoying EpiscopU rauk, and the Apostolic Djlegiti-s are generally A.ehbishop* or Hishopa. 'J he Citlmlic worl iis divi Ijd i,uo SOS dioceses, exclusive of five Ap.»stohc Delegations, 109 Vicurshius Apostolic, iindt«outy-ci^ht Apostolic Prefectures