holic rites. So great
was the change that in a short time all the inhabitants of a village in
the neighborhood embraced the Catholic faith. The Mahometans who are most
capable of appreciating religious questions, study Christianity secretly.
Not long ago, a Turk of Damascus caused a Catholic priest to be called to
his deathbed, and begged to be baptized. Great was the surprise of the
missionary to find him as well acquainted with the truths of religion as
he was anxious to receive the sacrament of regeneration. A few moments
later the good priest beheld his neophyte expire, expressing the most
pious sentiments.

In Russia, the most powerful seat of the great eastern schism, Catholics
were long subjected to the most trying persecution. It is well known what
influence the venerable Pontiff, Gregory XVI., exercised over the mind of
the late Emperor Nicholas, and that he succeeded in causing him to
mitigate the evils which weighed so heavily on his Catholic subjects. Pius
IX. was still more successful. Having concluded a Concordat with the Czar,
which was signed at Rome on the 3rd August, 1847, by Cardinal
Lambruschini, on the part of the Holy See, and Counts Bloudoff and
Boutenieff, on the part of Russia, Pius IX., in a consistory held on 3rd
July of the same year, instituted bishops for the following Sees of the
Russian Empire: The Metropolitan Church of Mohilow, the united dioceses of
Luccoria and Zitomeritz, in Volhynia, the diocese of Vilna, in Poland, and
a coadjutor, with right of succession, for the archbishopric of Mohilow.
The Concordat contained 31 articles. Article 1st. Seven Roman Catholic
dioceses are established in the Russian Empire--an archbishopric and six
bishoprics, viz.: the archbishopric of Mohilow, which comprises all those
parts of the Empire which are not contained in the undermentioned
dioceses. The Grand Duchy of Finland is also included in this archdiocese.
The diocese of Vilna, comprising the governments of Vilna and Grodno,
according to their present limits; the diocese of Telsca, or Samogitia,
comprising the governments of Courland and Kowno; the diocese of Minsk,
comprising the government of Minsk, as at present limited; the diocese of
Luceoria and Zitomeritz, containing the governments of Kiovia and
Volhynia; the diocese of Kaminiec, comprising the government of Podolia;
the new diocese of Kherson, containing the Province of Bessarabia, the
governments of Khersonesus, Ecatherinaslaw, Taurida,