y teacher. So late as 1842, matters
were little better, Hobart-town having one priest, but no church.
Australia, meanwhile, was growing in importance, and it came to possess,
as became an important British colony, constitutional government. This was
a new era for the cause of religion. Australia has now, 1880, two
archbishoprics and ten other episcopal sees. In three of the dioceses,
Melbourne, Sandhurst and Perth, there are no fewer than one hundred and
thirty-five priests.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

At the epoch of Independence, 1776, the number of Catholics in the new
republic was estimated at twenty-five thousand. The spiritual wants of
this comparatively small body were ministered to by nineteen priests, who
were under the jurisdiction of the bishop Vicar-Apostolic of London,
England. By 1790, the number of priests was doubled, and a bishop was
appointed. In 1840, there were in the United States one million five
hundred thousand Catholics. By 1855, they had grown to two millions. In
the twenty-one years from 1855 to 1876 the increase was from two millions
to six million five hundred thousand. This extraordinary growth, though
rapid, was, nevertheless, vigorous and healthy. There was a corresponding
increase in the numbers of the clergy, as well as of religious and
educational institutions. For the instruction and spiritual comfort of so
great a flock, there were, in 1879, no fewer than five thousand three
hundred and fifty-eight priests, with fifty-six bishops and archbishops,
five thousand and forty-six churches, three thousand seven hundred and
eleven oratories and missionary stations. Religious houses have also
increased in due proportion. In 1855, there were only fifteen religious
houses for men in all the United States. There are now ninety-five.
Communities of religious sisters, who chiefly devote themselves to works
of charity and instruction, also flourish. In 1855 there were only fifty
such communities. There are now two hundred and twenty-five. Educational
institutions of a religious character also abound. In 1800, there was only
one Catholic academy for girls in all the United States. At the present
day they number more than four hundred. Catholic colleges have increased
from two to sixty-four.

The number of parochial schools is not so great, in proportion to the
population, as in the Province of Quebec. This is accounted for by the
still defective state of religious liberty in the United States.