Upper Egypt.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 36, 4 September 1902, Page 29

Upper Egypt.

Concerning tho religiaus situation in Upper Egypt, tho Uev. b'a'.her Noui\nt, S.J., who has returned after an absence of four years at Minieh, a place about 100 imlcs south of Cairo, has written a long letter. The following is an extract — Finally, the effect of Catholic works and institutions has been enormous. Of these last I must make a hasty review. Until the year 1887, excepting the Catholic Copt clergy and eight parishes of Franciscan Fathers, ' Recollets,' there were none of these religious institutions in Upper Egypt, which already nourished in Lower Egypt, such as missions, Christian Brothers, etc. There was also wantimg a strong organisation of tho Catholic Copt clergy. The whole force, I repeat, consisted of eight residences of Franciscan Fathers, officiating in harmony with some Coptic priests among the four or five- thousand Catholic Copts of Upper Egypt. And it pleased God to bless the z£al of the devoted Franciscan Fathers and prescr\e it intact The Christian families of tho different Catholic centres at the moment when the Holy Father, Leo

XEDL., in 1878, confided to the Jesuit Fathers the care of the erection! of an exclusively Coptic seminary, furnished numerous candidates who, first at Cairo and then at Beyrouth, ran through the entire course of literary a«nd sacred studies* and commenced finally in 1890 to furnish, these generations of priests, possessed for the most part of the double title of Doctor of Philosophy and Theology. With these elements: the Pope reconstituted the Catholic Coptic Hierarchy, and after havting named one Bishop, shortly after established three, who, under the direction of the Patrionch, administered the Catholic Copt Church. From that time the Coptic rito was firmly established, the stronghold had thrown up all its defences, and was safe from any surprise. Added to this the clergy were young and active, and certainly did not intend to act merely on the defensive. Valuable reinforcements, namely that* of the Jesuit Fathers established at Minieh in 1887, of the native Sisters called Mariamettes, and of tho Brothers of the Christian Schools, had all arrived on the scene. The Jesuits, besides the missions they were continually giving more or less 1 all ovqt the country, set about foun-i ding a number of schools. The native Sisters, recruited from the place itself thanks to a novitiate at Minieh, after the founding of the mother house, opened houses also at Tahta and Mallaoni, and are preparing to found more in other places.