Catholics in British America.
The Catholic Church has entrenched itself very strongly in British America. It is divided into four provinces and two districts, one of which is under the direct control of the holy see, the other under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Oregon. The Catholic population is nearly two millions. The most populous diocese is Montreal, which has 412,000 Catholics, followed by Quebec with 296,666. Next in order comes Three Rivers with 124,000, St. Hyacinthe with 110,210, and Ottawa with 100,000. The total number of priests is 2,052; of bishops, 24; and of archbishops, 5. The number of churches is 1,556, besides 367 chapels and missions that are scattered throughout the less thickly settled parts of the country. There are 130 establishments devoted to higher education, while rudimentary education is represented by 3,511 parochial schools. The bulk of the Catholic population of the Dominion is in Lower Canada, and the great majority of Quebec Catholics are of French descent. In the province of Halifax there are about 110,000 French-speaking Catholics out of a total Catholic population of 278,000; in that of Toronto there are about 75,000 out of a total of 265,000; and in that of St. Boniface, about 13,000 out of a total of 38,000.—Sel.