THE Indies--what visions of gold and silver, precious stones and fragrant spices, that little word, descriptive of a distant and fabulously wealthy land has painted in the minds of men. Particularly vivid were these visions in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. So eager were men for these riches and luxuries, that they set aside even their deepest prejudices in order to attain more easily their desires. Thus it was that Columbus, convinced that the world was round and that the East could be reached by sailing westward, was able to secure the aid necessary to launch his expedition. The story of Columbus is too familiar to be repeated in detail here. The land first touched was an island in the Bahama group to which the name San Salvador was given. Thence, proceeding southwards, Columbus landed at Cuba, which he was confident was the main land of India. For this reason he began to call the inhabitants of the islands Indians, and later, the islands themselves came to be known as "West Indies." From Cuba, he sailed eastward and discovered the present Island of Haiti to which he gave the name Espanola, because of its resemblance to the more beautiful provinces of Spain. This Island was destined to become the central point of the New World, and a base for future discovery and conquest. Here, Columbus was received with the utmost cordiality by the chief whose innate gentleness and goodness of heart were characteristic of all his people, whom Columbus described as "a loving, uncovetous people, so docile [5/6] in all things, that I believe in all the world there is not a better people or a better country; they love their neighbours as themselves, and they have the sweetest and gentlest way of talking in the world, and always with a smile." On this Island and among these people, Columbus determined to leave a small settlement which he named La Navidad. This done, he returned in triumph to Spain. He had not been there more than six months, however, when he set forth on his second voyage, this time accompanied by 1500 eager men instead of the 120 hesitant adventurers of his previous expedition. His company now, also, included a dozen missionaries under the charge of Bernard Buil, a Benedictine monk, specially appointed by the Pope. Good fortune attended them, for less than two months after setting forth, an island was sighted to which, the day being Sunday, the name Dominica was given. Then in rapid succession were discovered and named Galante, Guadaloupe on which lived the ferocious Caribs, Montserrat, Antigua, St. Martin, Santa Cruz, San Juan later called Porto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and finally Jamaica. In subsequent voyages he discovered Trinidad, and touched on the coasts of South and Central America.

With increasing knowledge of the New World there came active trade and intercourse between it and the old world. As early as 1497, Spain saw in Espanola a convenient dumping ground for her criminals, and in that year sent thither several hundred. By some, this may be considered to have been an exchange for the 300 Arawaks exported. to Spain as slaves the preceding year--"gold in bars" as they were pleasantly called by a facetious captain.

The Europeans seeking the fabled El Dorado--a "Lake of Golden Sands," in the New World, curiously enough, brought their own El Dorado with them in the shape of sugar cane. The West Indian Islands were adapted admirably to the raising of [6/9] this product. The sugar industry speedily developed on a large scale, and has continued, to this day, as the main economic factor in the islands. From it, both the wealth and the misfortunes of the islands, alike, have chiefly sprung; for it involved another importation--laborers to work it. The white men were few and unfitted by nature for the work, the gentle Arawaks were physically weak, and the man-eating Caribs were too intractable. In the solution of the problem, the Portuguese, who were responsible for it through their introduction of the sugar cane, led the way; on the continent of Africa they found laborers in abundance. Other nations were not slow in following their lead. Thus the system of slavery and the slave trade were introduced into the West Indies.

The early years of the sixteenth century marked the beginning of definite colonizing efforts on the part of the conquerors. Nicholas de Ovando, Governor of Haiti from 1501 to 1506 introduced the system known as encomienda whereby land and Indians were partitioned among the Spanish settlers. This system designed to colonize the islands permanently, and to enrich the settlers rapidly carried in its train oppression and unspeakable cruelties to the natives. Pressed into labor and treated with intolerable barbarity, the Indians soon broke under the strain and were rapidly declined in numbers. It has been estimated that in the Island of Haiti alone, a population of nearly a million Arawak Indians was reduced in ten years, through excessively hard labor in sugar fields and mines, to scarcely sixty thousand; this, notwithstanding the unwearied efforts on their behalf put forth by one of the greatest of all Dominican missionaries, Bartolomeo de Las Casas, known as "The Apostle to the Indians." The gentle Arawaks were done to death by intolerable labor; the hardier Caribs fell a prey to the savagery of their conquerors; and although eventually the labor problem was solved by the introduction of [9/] slaves from Africa, the solution came too late to save the native population. Today there is barely a trace of Indian blood anywhere in the West Indies. Thus the population of the West Indies today is 70 per cent colored, descendants of the slaves of colonial days; and on only two of the islands, Cuba and Porto Rico, is the white element predominant.

As has been noticed, the spread of the Faith in the New World was not neglected. Members of the religious orders as well as secular priests went to the new colonies to convert the natives as well as to care for the settlers. With a few notable exceptions such as the work of Las Casas, the methods used in converting the Indians failed to make of them real Christians. Too often, missionaries were satisfied with a nominal acceptance of the Faith. No effort was made to instruct the converts and it was not unusual for the conquistador to impose his religion on the natives by force. When the Negro supplanted the Indian, no effort was made to give the Christian message to him. It was believed that a slave could not be a Christian. Only after slavery was abolished was any attempt made towards his evangelization, and then it was merely the Negro in the city who was reached. Little or no attempt was made to convert the Negro in the country districts. Thus there was presented to the Church of a later time a magnificent opportunity to take the Gospel of Christ to these long neglected people.

No attempt can be made here to trace the vicissitudes whereby the West Indies, discovered, explored, and conquered by the Spanish, passed from their hands to those of the English, French, and Dutch, or of the "liberation movements through which several of the larger islands gained their independence. The results of these events naturally divide the islands of the Caribbean into three classes: first, the British colonies in which the Church of England is maintained and about which [10/11] nothing will be said in this Handbook; second, the independent Republics which include Cuba, Haiti, and Santo Domingo; and third, the American territories of Porto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. In both of these last two groups America has a large interest, and in these insular republics and dependencies the American Church has a large responsibility. It is the purpose of the following pages to tell how the American Church has met this responsibility in the Caribbean.

The Republic of Haiti

The Republic of Haiti, which occupies the western third of the island of the same name, declared its independence in 1804, following a reign of terror carried on in the name of liberty and the consequent withdrawal of the French who had held the colony since the days of the French buccaneers early in the seventeenth century. Independence, however, did not bring with it in the new republic the constructive forces which might have been expected. On the contrary, demolition, destruction, and terror continued, if anything, more rampant than before. Nevertheless, when in the United States early in the Civil War places for Negro colonization other than Liberia were being sought, Haiti was selected. In 1861, there went to Haiti a company of Negro emigrants under the care of an American Negro priest, the Rev. James T. Holly. Thus began the Mission of the American Episcopal Church in Haiti.

Of African descent, Mr. Holly was born in the City of Washington of free-born Roman Catholic parents in 1829. He was baptized by a Roman Catholic priest from Haiti, who had fled to this country before the fury of the Negroes, at that time intent upon ridding their country of the last vestige of the white people. Twelve years later, he was confirmed by the Archbishop of Baltimore, but his connection with the Roman Church was not destined to be permanent. He learned the trade of shoemaking, working in Washington, and later in Detroit. Influenced probably by the peculiar circumstances of his Baptism, and by the romance of the Negro Republic battling for self-government, he seems early to have been possessed with the desire to offer himself as a helper. This he disclosed in [13/14] a letter written, after his desire had been gratified, from his Haitian home: "I was ordained deacon in 1855 (by Bishop McCoskry of Michigan) with the express understanding that I should be sent to work in this field. As a matter of fact, two weeks after my ordination, I set out from Michigan to New York, from where I was sent ten days later, by the Foreign Committee of the Church, to collect information as to the possibility of establishing such a mission, and returned from thence with a favorable report. Six years were then spent in gaining pastoral experience for the work in view; and to this end I was advanced to the priesthood by the Bishop of Connecticut on January 2, 1856, when I accepted the pastoral charge of St. Luke's Church, New Haven, in that Diocese. Aside from the active pastoral work of that congregation, every fitting occasion was seized during those six years to stir up an interest by tongue, pen, and the press, in the contemplated Mission. In 1861, my face was again set towards Haiti, accompanied by 110 persons (of whom I was the pastor) for the practical establishment of the Mission in this land."

The Bishops of Ohio and Connecticut were among the most prominent in promoting this enterprise and it was largely through the latter's influence that his diocese aided the new mission. After sixteen months, Mr. Holly returned to the United States to plead Haiti's cause before the General Convention. The Foreign Committee of the Board of Missions, being unable to give him the desired assistance, he turned to the American Church Missionary Society who promised him some help. Thus assured, he returned to Haiti where in Port-au-Prince in a hired room he ministered to a small congregation. On Whitsunday, May 15, 1863, the Church of the Holy Trinity, Port-au-Prince, was organized and shortly after was received by the Presiding Bishop under his episcopal care. So important was this work regarded that he appointed the Rt. Rev. [14/15] Alfred Lee, Bishop of Delaware, as his commissary. Bishop Lee immediately visited Haiti. Upon his return he reported having confirmed twenty-six, and adds: "The Rev. J. T. Holly has made a good beginning. I was very favorably impressed with what I saw of him and of his labors. He has been working with zeal, prudence, and perseverance, and has shown remarkable energy in so debilitating a climate. It will not be worth while, however, to prosecute the Mission without suitable buildings. A convenient and appropriate church is a sine qua non, and accommodation for schools and residence, for one missionary, at least, is of the first importance."

But it was years before the Mission secured this much needed church. In the meantime, Mr. Holly worked on. In 1866, the Board of Missions took this work over from the American Church Missionary Society which was contributing nearly $6,000 a year towards its support. An episcopal visitation was ardently desired in the field, and this, together with the Board of Missions' eagerness for a survey, led to the sending of The Rt. Rev. George Burgess, Bishop of Maine, to visit Haiti.

The vitality of Mr. Holly's work was evident from the very beginning. He fully realized that Haiti must be led by Haitians, and that if a Mission were to prosper and grow into a strong National Church, a native ministry was indispensable. Laboring toward this end he was able, during Bishop Burgess' visit, to present two young men for ordination. The Bishop also accepted the applications of six others as candidates. Bishop Burgess, however, did not find in Haiti the renewed health for which he sought, and on the voyage home he died, a martyr to the Haitian cause. Immediately the congregation in Port-au-Prince made plans to build a church in his memory. A lot was purchased and a church costing $6,000 was shipped in parts to Haiti in November, 1867. Unfortunately, the site [15/16] purchased for the building proved inadequate, and it was necessary to exchange the original lot for a larger and more expensive one. Moreover, political disturbances at this time wrought havoc throughout the Republic, and it was not until 1872, that the erection of the new church in Port-au-Prince was completed.

In the meantime, the work of the Mission, despite the hardships and inconveniences occasioned by revolutionary upheavals, was spreading out. At a number of points, work was begun and congregations organized in charge of native lay readers or candidates for Holy Orders. At Port-au-Prince, a parish school was conducted in connection with the Church of the Holy Trinity, and in one of the suburbs the new mission of the Holy Comforter was begun. That these widely separated posts might in some small measure be linked together, the publication of a Church paper, The Gospel Echo and Harbinger of the New Age, was begun.

So promising was the outlook and so urgent the need for episcopal oversight that the Haitian Mission by vote of its Convocation petitioned the General Convention of 1871 to elect and consecrate a Bishop for Haiti. In response to this request, the Convention designated the Rt. Rev. Arthur C. Coxe, Bishop of Western New York, Bishop-in-charge, and requested him to visit and survey the field. Bishop Coxe spent six weeks late in 1872 in Haiti during which time he consecrated the newly completed Church of the Holy Trinity, Port-au-Prince, on December 5. Upon his return to the United States, he did much to familiarize American people with conditions in Haiti, and, in his report wrote: "The religious condition of these people is that of barbarism. Although many of them have been baptized in their infancy, yet they worship the spirit of evil; not because they admire or love the evil spirit, but because their ancestors have done so before them, and because they wish to propitiate [16/17] him. They dread the white man's God, however, and seem to think that Baptism keeps from the power of charms and incantations which one family is continually using against another. The superstition is deep in the hearts of these 500,000 African barbarians. They take their children to the Romish priests and have them christened: but altho' many of them have thus been baptized, they are still heathens and worship the heathen one. They are, nevertheless, very docile, and treat our missionaries with great respect."

As a result of this report, the Board of Missions appointed a special committee to consider the question of a Bishop for Haiti. The Committee, headed by Bishop Coxe, considered carefully two questions: (1), Shall the Mission be organized as a Mission of this Church or shall it be erected into an independent Haitian Church under our oversight? and (2), Shall the Bishop in either case be white or black?

In answer to these queries, they recommended: (1), that the Haitian Mission must be made a National Haitian Church as speedily as possible; and (2), that the Bishop should be a Haitian.

Upon the adoption of these recommendations by the General Convention of 1874, a Covenant was entered into between the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States and "The Orthodox Apostolic Church of Haiti," the principal terms of which were:

(1) That the Church in America recognizes the Church in Haiti as of right and of fact a foreign Church under the definition of our Constitution; and that, with this recognition, the assurance is given that the Church in Haiti will enjoy the nursing care of the Church at home until such care shall no longer be needed. (2) That the Church will designate and consecrate one of the Haitian clergy to be Bishop of Haiti. (3) That a Commission of [17/18] four American Bishops will be named to act with the Bishop of Haiti as a Board of Administration, to extend the Episcopate when needed, and to administer discipline pertaining to the episcopal order. (4) That the Church in Haiti agrees to guard, in all their essentials, a conformity to the doctrines, worship and discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, departing from them only as local circumstances require. (5) That the Haitian Church agrees to concede to the Church at home the designation and consecration of the Bishops of the Church in Haiti until three Bishops shall have been established therein.

The Haitian clergy had anticipated this action and had elected Mr. Holly as Bishop. The election was confirmed by The House of Bishops, and his consecration took place in Grace Church in the City of New York on November 8, 1874.

Eager to be back at work, Bishop Holly set sail ten days later, and on his arrival, received a most cordial welcome from the whole community of Port-au-Prince--Church and State.

Thus began the Episcopate of the first Negro Bishop of the American Church, a man of unusual ability; of highly developed powers of leadership; a courteous, Christian gentleman. What England had done for Africa ten years before in sending Crowther, the former slave boy, to minister as a Bishop in his native land, the Episcopal Church in the United States now did for Haiti.

Thus, also, began the independent Haitian Church. This Church had, as we have seen, already been recognized by the American Church; and in 1878, similar recognition was accorded by the Church of England on the occasion of the meeting of the Lambeth Conference which Bishop Holly attended as the representative of the Church in Haiti. That its growth after 1874 was not as rapid as before must be ascribed, not to the inefficiency of its Bishop, but to a multitude of reasons, [18/21] fundamental among which undoubtedly was that the Haitians had not yet developed the abilities which enable men to flourish in independence whether ecclesiastical or political.

The years 1876-1889 were a period of successive revolutions and political upheavals with all their attendant evils, and the development of the Church was seriously affected. Nevertheless, the presence of Bishop Holly gave new direction to the work. He had organized his jurisdiction into three Missionary Provinces corresponding to the Republic's Departments of the West, South, and North. In the Western Province which included the capital, Port-au-Prince with its two parishes, Holy Trinity and Holy Comforter, there were also missions at St. Martin's, Trianon, and Petit Fond, with tentative work at five other stations. Work in the Southern Province was carried on in Jeremie, Torbec, Aux Cayes, and L'Anse-a-veau. The Northern Province had proved a difficult district in which to begin, and there the principal station was Gros Morne, the business centre of the district, with occasional services at L'Acul, St. Louis du Nord, Port de Paix, and St. Michel. Gonaives, also in this district, had been the centre for a mission school, but hard times had so reduced the enrollment that it became impossible to maintain it.

During the years immediately following Bishop Holly's consecration, efforts were made to extend the work in the rural communities where the people, in increasing numbers, were destroying their heathen idols and turning to the Gospel. Chapels were erected in numerous villages of the interior and in the mountain district around Leogane. At Gros Morne, where work had early been begun, the old building gave way to a new and better one. In fact, so effective was the work, that in a small town nine miles from Jeremie, a former Roman Catholic chapel was ceded to Bishop Holly who took formal possession of it early in 1881. In the important [21/22] centre of Aux Cayes, the corner-stone for a new church was laid on Ascension Day, 1882.

Mention has been made of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Port-au-Prince, which had been consecrated by Bishop Coxe late in 1872. Here, as well as at Jeremie, Aux Cayes, and Cap Haitien, endeavors were made to meet the needs, not only of the French-speaking natives, but of the thousands of Church of England Negroes whom economic conditions had driven to Haiti from the British West Indies. This necessitated regular services in both French and English, and resulted in a large body of faithful people ministered to through the church and rectory, as well as a thriving school. Twice, during fifteen years, the whole plant was destroyed by fire; but the spirit of the people could not be daunted, and, each time, the buildings were replaced under more favorable conditions and largely through funds contributed locally.

This brief statement gives but a faint idea of the difficulties met and overcome. In 1873, and again in 1888, this parish had seen its whole equipment go up in smoke. On the second occasion, and after five years of effort coincident with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the organization of the Haitian Church, further discouragement came through the failure of a French company who had contracted to deliver the material for a brick and steel church. Finally, in 1895, the church was completed chiefly through the untiring efforts of the people themselves with some assistance from the Woman's Auxiliary in New York and other friends in America.

In an effort further to knit together his growing work, Bishop Holly early determined to revive the publication of a monthly Church paper. The press which issued The Gospel Echo and Harbinger of the New Age was burned in 1873. This necessitated the suspension of the paper for several years, and it [22/25] was not until 1878 that a small press was placed at the disposal of the Mission, and the publication of the monthly magazine could be resumed. The new monthly journal had about 200 subscribers, largely among intelligent Roman Catholics, who were desirous of becoming familiar with the doctrinal basis of the American Church. The press also published small books and pamphlets in French necessary for the carrying on of the work.

In this connection, it is interesting to note that an eminent Haitian writer at this time said: "I wish my compatriots to see how necessary it is for them to embrace the Protestant Faith, and above all, to have a National Church. The Haitian Orthodox Apostolic Church would offer the best security and guarantee to the Haitian Government which should be, and is, the true Church for the Haitian nation, in a word, its National Church. This Church should be, and is, the pillar around which the other Protestant Churches should and must rally."

The fortitude with which the members of the Church of the Holy Trinity met and overcome the obstacles which accompanied the building of a suitable church was but typical of the determination of the whole body of Haitian Christians to provide themselves with buildings appropriate to the worship of Almighty God and the means whereby the glad tidings of Jesus Christ might be spread more widely throughout the land. One striking evidence of this was seen in the formation, in 1891, of a Haitian Missionary Society. Other evidences of the same spirit were not lacking: in Jeremie, the members of St. Luke's Church raised a thousand dollars to repair their building; and in the mountain district of Leogane, the year 1896, the thirtieth anniversary of the beginning of work, saw the opening, in the town of Leogane, of the sixth chapel in the chain of stations throughout this district. Toward the close of the century the Gospel was beginning to reach many of the sorcerers of the district. The [25/26] missionary at Leogane writing in June, 1899, of this advance said: "Monday last (June 25), the Lord gave to the Church in Leogane a joyful day. Members from the six stations assembled at La Salle to assist at the reception of seventeen persons who had renounced their idolatrous practices and embraced the principles of the Gospel. We hope that this movement which began about six months ago, will not stop here; but that the Lord will continue to lift up His arm in its favour."

Bishop Holly, in his report for 1899, wrote: "The most important auxiliary to the missionary work of a Church like ours among a people where illiteracy greatly predominates and in whose hands we seek to place the Bible and Prayer Book for intelligent use is the maintenance of mission schools. The Bishop had early recognized the importance of a sound educational foundation for his growing Church. His policy, therefore, was to establish a parochial school in connection with every station--a task of great difficulty in view of the political and financial condition of the Republic. The beginning was naturally made at Port-au-Prince where, in connection with Holy Trinity Church, an extensive educational programme was proposed, including a primary department, a normal industrial school on a tract of farm land adjacent to the city, and a theological department in connection with this normal school; but for years it proved impossible to carry out this programme except in two of its features. By 1895, the Bishop was able to report one elementary parish school in Port-au-Prince, and nine other similar schools at various points with a total enrollment of 253 pupils.

The other feature of development at Port-au-Prince was the Theological School. The visit of Bishop Burgess in 1866 had resulted in the ordination by him of two young Haitians, and, in the same year, two native postulants were sent to the Philadelphia Divinity School. But it was evident [26/29] that the best results could be secured only through the training of Haitians in their own country. Consequently, in 1876, the Bishop opened a school of theology at the capital with a native faculty of three men, two of whom--Mr. Jones and Mr. Benedict--were those who had received their training in Philadelphia. The school suffered from the vicissitudes through which the parish passed, and had to be closed at intervals; attempts to send men to the Barbados for training proved impracticable by reason of the expense; candidates were, as before, sent to the United States, among them happily, two of Bishop Holly's sons; but, after all, no sufficient substitute for home training could be devised. Finally, in 1901, the Rev. Pierre E. Jones who, in addition to his pastoral duties, was principal of the Government High School in Aquin, was transferred to the Lancasterian School, at Port-au-Prince. This enabled the Church to reopen its Theological School with Mr. Jones as dean. Associated with him were the Rev. T. F. Holly and the Rev. Alexander Battiste. Classes were conducted in the evening for the six students who immediately enrolled. Three others were desirous of preparing for Orders but inadequate funds prevented the school from taking more than six. For several years the school so prospered that in 1905 it was decided to open a branch school in Aux Cayes in the very southern part of the Republic. Not only did these two schools train up a native ministry in Haiti, but whenever possible efforts were made to send particularly brilliant candidates to the United States for additional study.

In countries such as Haiti, the physical condition of the people is always a grave problem and one needing as careful attention by the Church as the minds and souls of the populace to which it seeks to minister. This aspect of the work of the Haitian Church was kept continually in mind, but the many obstacles which confronted the young [29/30] Church prevented any active work along these lines until 1892 when Dr. Alonzo P. Holly, another of the Bishop's sons recently, returned from years of study in America, established a small dispensary for the poor at Gonaives. At the close of the first year, Dr. Holly reported that the dispensary had treated 557 patients, distributed the necessary medicines to them gratuitously, and vaccinated 200 others. In addition to this work, Dr. Holly became the visiting physician and surgeon for the Gonaives Poorhouse conducted by Roman Catholic Sisters, and did a useful piece of co-operative work with them.

Another venture of Dr. Alonzo Holly during these years was the organization, among the English-speaking residents of Gonaives, of a Mutual Relief Society. The Society which numbered over fifty members created a fund by charging a small initiation fee and monthly dues, which fund was applied to taking care of members when sick, to whom the doctor's professional services were given gratuitously, and to buying needed nourishment and medicine.

That the Haitian Church was eager to maintain an adequate medical mission was shown by the fact that, in 1895, five sons of Haitian clergy, graduates either of medical schools in the United States or of the Port-au-Prince medical faculty, were ready to give their services to the Church. Lack of funds prevented the building of a hospital in this land of desperate need, but these devoted doctors, for ten years, met the need as best they could. St. James' clinic was established by Dr. Holly, in 1905, on land purchased for a hospital; the Board of Missions provided for the training of two native nurses; work was actually begun on a building, but sufficient money was not forthcoming; and, after many struggles, the coming of the American Marines and the eventual establishment of a hospital, and sanitary work under their jurisdiction, made it unnecessary for the Church to continue the enterprise save for [30/31] the services of a nurse in connection with Trinity parish. Thus the Church, pioneer in giving medical care to the people among whom it ministered, was able to give over this work to better and more adequately equipped agencies and to turn its attention with redoubled vigor to other more seriously neglected needs of its people.

The attention of the Church, during these years, was not solely occupied with the development of institutions, important as these were. Of primary concern was the extension of the Church so as to reach as many individuals as possible, and the last decade of the nineteenth century showed marked advance in this respect. The financial condition of the Republic as well as of the Church, made it impossible to secure land and erect chapels in every town to which the Church wished to carry the Gospel. Accordingly the clergy made plans to visit towns and hamlets and hold regular services out of doors or in such places as might be placed at their disposal. Thus the Church's message was first carried to Aquin, Petit Boucan, and other towns. So effective was this, that work of a permanent character was soon begun. At Aquin, the people promised a site and a building if a resident missionary were sent to them. Through the fortunate circumstance of the appointment of the Rev. Pierre E. Jones as director of secondary schools with headquarters in Aquin it was possible to do this. Until the promised chapel was ready, services were held in a spacious rented house. The residents of St. Louis of the South were so impressed by the itinerant services that they made a similar offer, and the Chapel of St. George was soon erected on land given by the foremost convert of the town. In Petit Boucan, a small country chapel was erected and consecrated, July 25, 1899.

In the towns where the Church had been longer established, progress was also made. Christmas Day, 1891, the patronal feast of the parish of the [31/32] Holy Saviour in Aux Cayes, was a glad day for that congregation. A new brick church, the culmination of nine long years of effort, was then used for the first time. A few years later, a new rural chapel was completed in Trianon, and at St. Louis du Nord the corner post for a new chapel was planted in April, 1895. In 1898, following a visit of Bishop Holly to Santo Domingo, the Annual Convocation of the Haitian Church voted to receive into affiliation with it the congregation organized at San Pedro de Macoris.

Thus the Church spread its influence in every direction in an effort always to reach that part of the island population, estimated at eighty per cent of the whole, who resided mainly in the rural districts and who persisted, in spite of their Christian Baptism administered in infancy by the Roman Church, to keep up their superstitious and idolatrous practices of heathenism. Mention has been made of the chain of rural chapels in the mountainous district of Leogane where such excellent progress was made in combating this evil. Not only were many sorcerers converted to Christianity, but eight mystagogues or heathen priests were converted. These, not satisfied with their own conversion, set forth into the mountains seeking after those who still remained in darkness. Such was the Church in Haiti at the beginning of a new century.

The impetus given to the extension of the Church in the closing years of the nineteenth century carried over into the twentieth century. At Fond a Cheval near Mirebalais a new congregation was organized (1900) and a chapel, St. Jude's, built. In the Croix des Martyrs suburb of Port-au-Prince a new mission was organized under the name of St. Ann's as the first infant baptized there was called Ann. In another suburb, Torgeau, the Mission of the Epiphany was begun; and, since the centenary [32/33] year of Haiti's independence was then drawing to a close, it became known popularly as The Centenary Mission.

So effective was the work of the Church of the Good Saviour, Petit Fond, that news of it spread throughout the district, and in consequence thereof the inhabitants of Lascahobas, the chief city of that Arrondissement became jealous of the privileges and benefits enjoyed by their smaller neighbor and of which they themselves were deprived. They, therefore, petitioned that a mission be opened in their city. This the Church was only too willing to do provided that the necessary men and means were available. It was some time, however, before regular services took the place of itinerant evangelism.

The Church was constantly taking advantage of such opportunities for occasional services. In 1903, Mr. Benedict thus described his first entry into Cavillon, a town in the Aquin district: "Last Easter Monday I visited Cavillon. A half dozen young members of the church in Cayes, young men and young women, went with me to aid me in singing the hymns of divine service. The general of the Commune extended to me the hospitality of his home while I was at Cavillon. I preached in the open air from the forum in the public square where a considerable number of the population attended. They paid the utmost attention to my discourse. They invited me to come there often, at least once a month. I propose, God willing, to do so in spite of my financial embarrassments. `The harvest is great, but the laborers are few'."

Throughout the district of Leogane, the people were especially eager for decent churches, in some cases gathering the stones and burning the lime by way of preparation. Thus it was not long before proper chapels superseded the old shacks at the six original centres, while new work was begun at many other points in the district.

[34] With this expansion of the work, the Church was ministering in four of the five Departments into which the Republic was divided. Only in the Department of the Northwest was the Church unable to find an opportune opening.

But it must not be imagined that the first decade of the new century was one of unimpeded progress. The new century did not magically eradicate all the country's previous political restlessness. These repeated disturbances retarded the Church's work especially in the capital and there, in 1908, the Church of the Holy Trinity was again destroyed by fire in the great fire of July 5th and 6th which laid a quarter of the city in ashes. Long-continued droughts lasting, in some instances, no less than four years, also hampered greatly the normal development of the Church in rural sections.

The year 1911 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Holly's work in Haiti, and the thirty-seventh of his Episcopate. Through fifty years of devoted, unfaltering service he gave himself to the land of his adoption and the people whom he loved until, on March 13, 1911, he was called to his rest.

When Mr. Holly arrived in 1861, Haiti, except for a few Church members in the new colony, was barren ground for the Church. In 1874 the Bishop and his staff of six priests and four deacons were ministering to nearly one thousand souls, of whom 238 were communicants, divided among 18 missions.

At the close of Bishop Holly's administration, there were 12 priests; 2 deacons; 2 candidates; 2 postulants; 18 layreaders; 54 teachers (of whom 9 were in day-schools); and 26 missions. More than 2,000 souls were under the ministrations of clergy and teachers, with 651 communicants.

The National Convocation of the Haitian Church, following the Bishop's death, requested the Church in America to send a delegation to Haiti to look [34/37] over the field and counsel with the native Church as to the measures to be adopted which would best serve its interests. Meanwhile, the Rev. Pierre E. Jones, Dean of the Convocation, administered the District pending the decision of our American Church. Mr. Jones gives the following most significant information: "Only a strongly organized, national, Protestant Episcopal Church can surely bring about a revolution in the religious views and opinions of our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens. The English Wesleyans entered Haiti in 1818, and have today four missions, two native ministers, and one foreign. The American Methodists entered the field in. 1824, and have today one mission and one foreign minister. The American Baptists entered the field in 1848, and have today three native ministers and three missions. The Protestant Episcopal Church entered the field in 1874; and has today fifteen well-organized parishes, seven mission stations, and fifteen ordained native ministers. We have also a young Haitian in the Divinity School in Philadelphia, and a young woman in the Deaconess House in the same city. After their courses are completed, they will return home to strengthen our little army of brave ones."

In January, 1912, the Board of Missions appointed the Rt. Rev. A. W. Knight, Bishop of Cuba, as chairman of the delegation in response to the abovementioned request. The Bishop, with his party, arrived at Port-au-Prince about the close of the month, and as a sidelight on the difficulties which had beset the path of Bishop Holly, this extract from a letter of Bishop Knight is illuminating. Referring to Port-au-Prince he says:

"There is a saying that it has been burned and rebuilt every seven years as a result of frequent revolutions."

And then, as an earnest, let us devoutly hope, of what may come to pass, this sketch is given of the newly elected President Le Conte: "It was some [37/38] time before I understood that this gentle and softspoken Negro was the chief executive of this turbulent black republic. There was nothing uncouth about him; he had no braggadocio manners; on the contrary, he seemed refined and effeminate. It was hard to realize that only a few months before he had landed on his native shores, after five years of exile; had gathered a few followers; and had swept his course onward to the Capital, until the martial Simon fled before him. With his advent to power, better days for Haiti seem to have dawned. Le Conte belongs to one of the oldest and most refined families of the Island. He is grandson of the first President, the military genius who, taking up the sword of Toussaint, completed the deliverance of Haiti from France. He has been highly educated, and has spent much time abroad. He has come to power when militarism has ridden his country for many years, and crushed out its industries. He is reversing these things. The number (of his army) has been reduced. The new broom is sweeping clean. Our Church can be a great aid at this time if she rises to the opportunity."

Bishop Knight met and advised with the Council of the Haitian Church, called in special session. The action taken is thus described: "The Convocation remained in session for a week; and, finally, by a practically unanimous vote, passed a resolution requesting the American Church to receive the Haitian Church as a Missionary District." One can but regret, and deeply, that the purpose of Bishop Holly's fifty years of vision, which seemed so great to him, should have been abandoned, when the Convocation voted to relinquish its autonomy. Let us hope that this is but a temporary status.

It was not until 1913 that General Convention could reply to the request of the Church in Haiti, and meantime Bishop Knight was deputed to render episcopal service there. In that year General [38/39] Convention, having elected the Rev. Charles B. Colmore as Bishop of Porto Rico, appointed him to the charge of the Missionary District of Haiti. The connection between Porto Rico and Haiti is exceedingly remote, and the means of transportation most difficult, so that Bishop Colmore found a task impossible to be done efficiently. Like a good soldier, he obeyed orders, and the Church must take all the onus for the short-comings. He held the District together, promoting the existing enterprises, and greatly encouraging the work of the Woman's Auxiliary, of which little or no notice" seems previously to have been taken. To overcome, as far as possible, the disadvantages of the conditions, the Rev. A. R. Llwyd was appointed commissary to the Bishop, and, in 1918, he began work in this capacity. With headquarters in Port-au-Prince, Mr. Llwyd has indefatigably labored to repair rents and build up waste places.

In 1919, General Convention resolved that Haiti must have a Negro Bishop of its own, and elected the Rev. Samuel Grice of Payne Divinity School. He felt constrained to decline, and the Rt. Rev. James C. Morris, of the Panama Canal Zone, was appointed to take the oversight of the Church in Haiti.

Bishop Morris immediately visited Haiti and, during a month's stay, carefully surveyed the work and confirmed 224 people in all parts of the Republic. Upon his return, he reported on the situation which he found. The Church was confined to the southern part of the Republic and was almost entirely rural. In the whole northern country there was no Anglican clergyman, church, or school. This was especially regrettable as, in and about Cap Haitien, there were over seventy West Indian Negro families all of whom were members of the Church of England and for whom no ministration other than that of the Roman Church was afforded. This was in sharp contrast to the southern area [39/40] where the parochial schools were flourishing and well attended and doing much to combat illiteracy which in the whole country claimed ninety-seven per cent of the entire population. Bishop Morris felt that in the strong missionary spirit of both the Archdeacon and the Haitian clergy, which was very evident, rested the future of the Church.

The years between Bishop Holly's death and the delegation of episcopal oversight to Bishop Morris were years fraught with difficulty. Not only was the work hampered through lack of continuous episcopal oversight, but contrary to expectation, these years were filled with serious political disturbances. During eighteen months in 1914 and 1915 there were no less than three uprisings, and the stagnation in every aspect of life during these disturbances, when communication between cities and rural districts was absolutely cut off, was beyond description. The chronic revolutionary spirit, culminating in 1915 in the overthrow of the Government and the murder of the President, led, in the next year, to the American occupation of the Republic in an effort to restore order and stabilize the Government. A treaty was entered into between the United States and Haiti whereby the United States was given a ten-year protectorate over Haiti, thus insuring such peace and order as would allow for the proper economic development of the land. In such a situation the opportunity of the Church was unparalleled, and the need for an American missionary of the utmost urgency. The presence of the Marines in Haiti aided the work of the Church in many ways, especially through the construction of new roads whereby travel between the widely-scattered towns was facilitated. The varied activities of Trinity parish attracted favorable attention, and presently means were secured to erect a suitable building for The Day Nursery on the Church's property.

[43] The coming of Archdeacon Llwyd in 1918, gave new impetus to the work, and it became increasingly apparent that the Church in Haiti should have a resident Bishop. This was eventually realized, and the General Convention of 1922 elected, as Bishop of Haiti, the Ven. Harry Roberts Carson, Archdeacon of Panama. Three years later, his Missionary District was, like Porto Rico, made a part of Province II.

Archdeacon Carson was consecrated on January 10, 1923, in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, and proceeded at once to his field, arriving there the next month where, on February 18, 1923, he was formally inducted as Bishop of Haiti in Holy Trinity Church, Port-au-Prince. He immediately appointed Mr. Llwyd, who had been commissary in Haiti of both Bishops Colmore and Morris, as Archdeacon of Port-au-Prince with special responsibility for the training and oversight of candidates for Holy Orders. Before the close of the year, Bishop Carson had visited practically every one of his mission-stations and had confirmed 511 persons. On his visitations, he found an appallingly widespread illiteracy, and the people living in the most primitive simplicity of life. Dire poverty existed everywhere, making even moderate self-support an objective not to be realized at once.

Everywhere, he found buildings classed as chapels hardly more than rude shacks of bamboo plastered with mud, sometimes whitewashed but more often au nature/. Every mission presented a pitiful plea to open a school, and in only a few cases was the Bishop able to respond by using funds from his discretionary purse. On one of his visitations, a thin, ill-clad boy said to Bishop Carson, "Give us a school like the Americans have, and when next you come I'll make you a speech."

The Haitians are natural orators, with the spirit of the French Revolution still strong within them. Off in the heart of the bush the most illiterate of [43/44] them will burst into eloquent speech upon all occasions, and one unexpectedly comes upon "Mirabeau", "Robespierre", "Aristide", or "Plato"--all names of solemn round-eyed Haitian urchins who have never been more than half a mile from the shadow of the mango tree beneath which they were born. A year after the above incident, a ten year old lad in a fervent speech, thanked the Bishop for _the school which, in the interval, had been started.

And such a school! A pitiful little thing where the children squat under a roofing of thatch, and imbibe what knowledge may be imparted by the local priest. Education and a knowledge of the Redeemer are serious matters to these bush-dwellers.

In 1924, Bishop Carson had so far drawn together his disorganized District that he was able to inaugurate several advance projects. Of these the Bishop wrote in his 1924 Report:

"There have been three outstanding achievements during the past year: The organization of a theological seminary, the formal inauguration of social service work by the Church, and the marked increase in the number of primary schools. To each of these, I venture to call attention briefly.

"From the very beginning of missionary work in this Island, the perplexing problem has been the securing of a ministry. There is not--there has not been--a lack of volunteers, but there has been a lack of sufficient preliminary training which would give one the hope of a ministry `learned as the canons require', giving to them the most liberal construction. It was the first task of Bishop Holly; and, later, priests such as the Rev. Mr. Benedict, who has just died, the Rev. Dr. Pierre E. Jones, and the Rev. Albert R. Llwyd have attempted it in the face of tremendous difficulties. As I write, I have by me a letter of Bishop Holly, written almost fifty years ago, in which he refers to his concern with this matter. He says, 'These young men have to gain their livelihood at a daily occupation [44/47] Mr . . . . . therefore occupies himself with the postulants from 7 to 8 A. M., and from 5 to 6 P. M.' Only the progress of a snail is possible under such conditions. It has been largely such through all the years and the wonder is that anything should have been accomplished at all.

"On St. Michael's Day last, in a house which I have leased for two years, with a faculty composed of myself, Archdeacon Llwyd as dean, the Rev. Pierre E. Jones and the Rev. Edouard C. Jones, a theological school was opened with four young men. They are following as closely as possible the regime of older seminaries, living in community and after rule, lending assistance to the mission field in and about Port-au-Prince, making their preparation for the ministry the principal, and not a subordinate, concern of their lives. It is my hope that by the end of this year they will be sufficiently advanced to receive ordination to the diaconate and thus be able to render larger service during their period of preparation. That this work might be carried on not experimentally but as a part of the normal life of the Church through the future is my earnest hope. A rented building and a lack of assured financial support will keep it in the experimental zone, but a building of its own and assurance of financial backing, with a slightly enlarged faculty, will be a tower of strength for the Church in Haiti.

"Mrs. Estelle Swann Royce, identified for a number of years with many of the social service activities in the Panama Canal Zone, volunteered for service in Haiti upon the conclusion of her work in Panama, and she entered upon her new field in the early fall of last year. That which is so common and familiar elsewhere--opportunity for girls and women to attain a measure of self-support--is rarer and less known in Haiti. Many of them have remarkable natural skill with the needle, but it has been difficult to find a market which would be [47/48] always open to them. An occasional tourist is an uncertain reed upon which to lean. Mrs. Royce has undertaken to be the liaison officer for this work. She has added also the grade of domestic science to the school which has been so successfully directed by Miss Marianne Jones, not giving everything that domestic science means but some part of it, at least the first step.

"Our work is being strengthened daily by the primary schools which are now being conducted in various parts of the Island in connection with the work of some of the more important missions. These schools receive modest assistance from the National Council. The list should be extended until every principal mission shall have its school alongside. Otherwise, it is the Roman Catholic parochial school during the week and a scant hour on a Sunday for this Church to care for its little ones. The happiest experiences of my work as Bishop are my visits to the schools, to witness happiness of parents and gratefulness of children for what the American Church has done for them. I venture to hope that I may open two or three additional schools next year."

The Church of the Holy Trinity, Port-au-Prince, throughout the entire history of the Haitian Mission seemed to epitomize the vicissitudes through which the whole Mission passed. Not unnaturally, Bishop Carson wished to establish in Port-au-Prince a fitting centre for the whole Mission in Haiti. Plans were, therefore, drawn for a cathedral church, and the hope was entertained of laying the cornerstone on November 8, 1924, the fiftieth anniversary of Bishop Holly's consecration. Unhappily, storms intervened and the event was postponed until February 8, 1925. At the close of that year there were still no funds with which to build the church, but Bishop Carson was laboring valiantly to secure them as well as to find means of extending his work [48/49] in such outlying places as the Island of Gonaive, Casalles, Port de Paix, and Ravines aux Lianes.

When the field is surveyed, the report of Bishop Lee is remembered, "It will not be worthwhile to prosecute the Mission without suitable buildings. A convenient and appropriate church is a sine qua non, and accommodation for schools and a residence, for one missionary, at least, is of the first importance." The situation is much the same today, and in order that Bishop Carson may prosecute his Mission with the utmost vigor and effectiveness every American Churchman must co-operate loyally with him.

The Dominican Republic

The eastern two-thirds of the Island of Haiti is occupied by the Dominican Republic, with a population of nearly 900,000, an agreeable climate, and a soil of exceptional fertility. The history of the country, however, has been anything but peaceful.

The treaty of 1795 between Spain and France had given the whole Island to France; but, as we have seen, the people of the western portion revolted successfully, and, in 1804, set up the Republic of Haiti. In the eastern part of the Island, Spain still maintained a precarious hold until 1821 when she was finally forced to withdraw. Thereupon Haiti invaded her sister Republic and, for more than twenty years, held the whole Island under one rule. Geographical features, however, as well as difference of language, tend to separation, and in 1844 the Spanish-speaking people of the eastern portion succeeded in setting up their own Dominican Republic independent of their French-speaking neighbor on the west.

As in the case of Haiti, the history of the younger Republic does not make pleasant reading. Revolution and corruption marked its course.

In 1870, President Grant planned to annex the Dominican Republic or, at least, to secure a protectorate. This failed, and the disturbances in the Republic continued, with an ever-increasing debt, until the situation was so grave that in February, 1905, our Secretary of State, John Hay, in order to forestall armed and indefinite European intervention, negotiated a protocol which provided that the United States should adjust the debts of the Dominican Republic and administer the Custom House receipts. On April 1, 1905, an agent of the [51/52] United States took charge of the Republic's fiscal administration; and, two years later, a formal treaty between the two Governments was signed.

Although the debt of the Republic has been greatly reduced since the intervention by the United States, conditions there are exceedingly backward. There are few roads suitable for wheeled vehicles. Most of the so-called roads are mere mule tracks, and are allowed to take care of themselves. Travel is mainly on pony, mule, or donkey back; and, in the rural districts, bullocks are trained as mounts for women and children. A recent observer in Santo Domingo writes: "Without excepting even the worst roads in China or Russia, or even in the United States, there is nothing to equal the mockery of these supposedly connecting links between cities and the rural districts in the Dominican Republic."

Mention has been made in this Handbook of Bishop Holly's visit to the Dominican town of San Pedro de Macoris in February, 1898, where he met the Haitian deacon, the Rev. B. I. Wilson, advanced him to the priesthood, consecrated his little church, and administered confirmation to members of his congregation. After the Bishop's return to Haiti, this congregation, as has been noted, was taken into union with the Church in Haiti. Mr. Wilson continued his work in San Pedro de Macoris in spite of the frequent and often disastrous political disturbances which surrounded him, and even made efforts to extend the Mission to La Romano and Santo Domingo City, the capital of the Republic; but these efforts had no permanent results owing to Mr. Wilson's lack of facilities for travel. For fifteen years, the Mission had to get along as best it could with but little notice or encouragement on the part of the American Church.

The West Indian Bishops of the Church of England called the attention of the American Church to the fact that large numbers of their people had emigrated from their Dioceses of Antigua, Barbados, [52/53] and Jamaica, and settled in the southern part of the Dominican Republic. It was pointed out that this Republic fell naturally with the sphere of influence of the American Church, and we were asked to do what we could for these people. In response to this memorandum, the House of Bishops, in 1913, passed a resolution to the effect that the Bishop of Porto Rico should take jurisdiction over "such Christian people in Santo Domingo as may have asked or may hereafter ask for his pastoral oversight."

The Bishop of Porto Rico, the Rt. Rev. C. B. Colmore, at once set out to find men qualified for the work--a difficult task because, as yet, this neighboring Republic was unknown to Americans of the north. How completely this was true was not realized until we sent our first missionary down in 1918. The accounts given of his trials during the first three months remind one of the experiences eighty years earlier of our first missionaries in China. Not only was a North American an unwelcome curiosity, but there were not enough people understanding English to make it possible to secure a decent place to live and proper food to eat. Almost the whole first year was a continuous tale of hardship. In opening up other missions we have generally followed workers from other North American missionary organizations and, therefore, our representatives have not been the pioneers. In the Dominican Republic they were pioneers.

The first missionary, the Rev. William Wyllie with his wife and children, arrived in Santo Domingo City, on January 17, 1918. The following extract from a letter written by him at the time, gives some idea of the conditions which had to be faced:

"On landing here, the experiences many and various through which we passed drove reason and common sense entirely to the winds. Our utter [53/54] helplessness, and the hopelessness of the duty given us seemed too potent. We wandered about town looking for a place to sleep in, and eat. Hotels were crowded, and the food out of the question until hunger made us swallow it. We managed, before the day was over, to get one small room with three beds put up in it, no space to turn. The place was clean, but there was no `Pied Piper of Hamlin' to charm the rats. Three nights of that at $8.00 a day simply ended my reasoning faculty. We tramped the town late and early to find a house to rent. On the morning of the fourth day we found rooms (two) in the French Hotel and there we remained until January 25th when we found a house.

"We cannot afford to rent a place for public worship, and I have searched the town for a place that would be anything like suitable. That a minister is needed here in the city goes without saying--and there is more than enough for one man to do. I have not been idle one moment since I landed, speaking, talking and teaching to any one who would listen in the public park and in soldiers tents."

Finally Mr. Wyllie was able to begin regular work at Fort Ozama where, centuries before, Columbus had been imprisoned before being sent to Spain in chains. Here Mr. Wyllie ministered to the American Marines who were sorely in need of his services. This work continued until a chaplain was appointed for the Marines, when Mr. Wyllie moved his chapel to the building occupied by the American Collector of Customs. The congregation continued to be composed largely of American officers and civilians, though gradually the English-speaking colored people were attracted to the Church.

As soon as a beginning had been made in the capital and a fund for the erection of a church had been begun, Mr. Wyllie turned his attention to the West Indian Negroes in the Republic on whose behalf the American Church had been called to the [54/57] Island. Services were soon begun at San Isidro, a plantation near the capital; Boca Chica, a sugar factory; La Romana, a town in the centre of an important sugar development; Consuelo, a large plantation near San Pedro de Macoris, and at Puerto Plata on the north coast which was made accessible through the opening of the first road across the Island between Santo Domingo City and Santiago de los Caballeros.

By reason of the patient and courageous work of Mr. Wilson, as noted above, San Pedro de Macoris presented the largest opportunity. Mr. Wilson who had struggled along unaided without salary or other adequate support for many years, was placed in charge of the Spanish-speaking work; and, in 1921, he was joined by the Rev. A. H. Beer sent out to minister to the thousands of West Indian Negroes around San Pedro de Macoris. Through his efforts a church was erected as well as a rectory and school building, while the gift of an automobile from the people of the Republic enabled him to extend his work as well as to deepen its influence where already established. Still, the lot of our missionaries in the Republic--the Wyllies at Santo Domingo, and the two priests at San Pedro--was no easy one, and it was not until seven years of hard toil were accomplished that the Mission seemed at length well established; a result due in large measure to the co-operation of the Marines.

The work, save for Epiphany School in Santo Domingo City, and St. Stephen's School in San Pedro de Macoris, was entirely evangelistic, carried on from three centres--Santo Domingo City, San Pedro de Macoris, and La Romana, in the first two of which there was, as we have seen, a resident priest, while the third was in charge of a lay reader.

In Santo Domingo City we had a large and well located plot on the main street just outside the old city. Here a rectory provided a home for [57/58] Archdeacon Wyllie; a temporary chapel served a goodly number of American residents; and a portable building donated by the Government served as a parish school. The ground was ample for any future development of both the church and school. From the city, the priest was enabled to make journeys to the neighboring plantations.

At San Pedro de Macoris was a similar workchapel, school, and rectory--called St. Stephen's Mission. There was also a small chapel in which services were conducted by the old native priest. From the city, Mr. Beer made journeys to conduct missions on neighboring plantations. At one of these, Const.ielo, the plantation authorities erected a chapel and presented it to us. This chapel, St. Gabriel's, was consecrated in October, 1924, and served 5,000 English-speaking colored laborers on the plantation.

It will be seen, therefore, that as yet only a beginning has been made in the Dominican Republic. But then, nothing has begun there yet, not even commerce. Of course, the beginning of civilization in the Western Hemisphere was actually made where the city of Santo Domingo now is, by Christopher Columbus, in 1494. But nothing came of his efforts, and it is often said that the country is just as it was when Columbus built there the first stone church and the first cathedral and the first fortified city in the New World.

When a Church is confronted by a land as undeveloped as this, the Macedonian call is very loud. The mere fact that priests of a Church went there with Columbus and built cathedrals and churches, proves nothing, since those very churches and cathedrals have been all but abandoned these two centuries. Outside of the cities themselves, the people know nothing about the simplest facts of religion. When our Archdeacon first visited the prison in the capital city, he was told that he was the first [58/59] minister of the Gospel who had entered it within the memory of man. At the time of writing, not only were the people of the Dominican Republic largely unevangelized--the best of reasons for the presence of our Church there,--but there was every reason for believing that the country was soon to be opened to business enterprise. To allow this to occur without the Church would be a disastrous policy. The Church must get there first and be waiting to receive the pioneers of commerce.

Porto Rico

Due east from Santo Domingo across the narrow Mona Passage lies Porto Rico. "The Beautiful Isle of Somewhere." It is the most densely populated region in the western hemisphere, having over a million and a quarter people living in an area of less than four thousand square miles in extent. At least seventy-five per cent of the population live in rural districts, and it is impossible anywhere on the Island to get out of sight of a house. In this land the organized work of the American Church dates from the annexation of the Island to the United States in 1898. The American Army of Occupation numbered among its chaplains several priests of the Church, and one of these, the Rev. H. A. Brown, began regular services at once in Mayaguez. It was not until the following year, however, that the first appointee of the Board of Missions--the Rev. George B. Pratt--started services in the historic old town of San Juan de Porto Rico, founded and so named by Columbus in 1493. Here, on March 11, 1899, the first service of our American Church was held, in a hall loaned for the purpose by a Porto Rican. These, however, were not the first non-Roman services to be held in Porto Rico. Thirty years prior to this, upon the proclamation of religious freedom in Porto Rico by the Spanish Government, a group of foreign students met to discuss the feasibility of establishing a non-Roman church in Porto Rico. As a result of this meeting, the first non-Roman service to be held on the Island took place in the home of Mr. Thomas G. Salomons, at Ponce. Upon the invitation of a large group of Protestant and Anglican residents, and with the co-operation of the Bishop of Antigua, the [61/62] Rev. J. C. DuBois of St. Croix, Danish West Indies, came over to conduct this service which was attended by over two hundred persons. As a result of this meeting, there was organized Holy Trinity Parish which held its first regular service on the Feast of the Epiphany, 1872. The parish at first came under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Antigua; but upon the cession of Porto Rico to the United States and the consequent transfer of episcopal jurisdiction to the American Church, the work at Mayaguez, San Juan, and Ponce, became our responsibility. Besides these three centres, there were, at that time, only a small Lutheran Sunday School and a union service inaugurated by the Y. M. C. A.

During the early years of the Mission it was under the care of Diocesan Bishops in America. At the request of Bishop Moreland of Sacramento who was in charge in 1900, Bishop Whipple of Minnesota visited the Island to study social and religious conditions there. Upon his return to the United States, he urged the immediate appointment of a Bishop.

The General Convention of 1901 recognized the great need for a Bishop in Porto Rico and elected the Rev. William C. Brown of Brazil (now Bishop of Virginia). He did not feel able, at the time, to abandon his important Brazilian work, and the next year, the House of Bishops in special session elected the Rev. James H. Van Buren. When elected, Mr. Van Buren was rector of St. John's Church, San Juan, having gone to Porto Rico in 1901.

When Mr. Van Buren assumed the rectorship of St. John's Church, he surveyed the situation and said that the Church was needed in Porto Rico in order that "the American life which is flowing in here may be kept true to Christ" and that it should help the Americans to be exemplars of the higher life and thus impress upon the Porto Ricans the [62/65] fact that, "in exchanging Spanish for American supremacy, they had not become subjects or citizens of a non-Christian nation." "It is important," he added, "that the Church should hear no inferior part in stemming the un-Christian tide of immigration against which every American in Porto Rico must make a struggle." Upon his elevation to the episcopate, he was at once brought face to face with the problems, not of an English-speaking parish only, but of the people of Porto Rico at large. These problems were of peculiar difficulty, since the native population presented an amalgamation of three widely different races, and had the distinctive traits of all three--Indian, African, and Spaniard. From the Indian, the Porto Rican derived his indolence, taciturnity, sobriety, disinterestedness, and hospitality; from the African Negro, great physical endurance, but coupled with sensuality and fatalism; from the Spaniard, devotion to his country, independence, and the spirit of chivalry. In his first annual report Bishop Van Buren wrote:

"History displays no exact parallel to the present situation. We are witnessing here a peaceful revolution of ideas, not wrought out by violence. Extermination forms no part of the programme.

"The dominant type of religion among the Latin races, is, of course, the Roman Catholic, in its local adaptations; the Hispano-Roman interpretation of the Gospel is the only conception of the Christian faith and worship these people have ever been taught. They have received the impression that whatever did not conform to that must of necessity be atheism. It is not surprising that the exclusive teaching of that system should have resulted, as it has, in many saints, much superstition, gross ignorance, and widespread indifference. The adherence of the vast majority of the people to any vestige of the Christian faith is purely nominal. To ears accustomed to a religion of ceremonial, it is a new thing to hear of a religion which adds to faith, [65/66] virtue, and measures the fruits of the Spirit in terms of conduct and character as well as in splendor of worship.

"Again, antiquated methods of indiscriminate almsgiving, as a means of securing the favor of the saints, has made beggary a profitable industry. The abuse of the system of orphan asylums has had a tendency to increase illegitimacy, already abnormal in its proportions from a variety of causes.

"Social distinctions here are strongly marked and sharply drawn. Among the upper classes one finds the racial tendencies and prejudices more inveterate. The process of Americanization, while it is not lacking in all classes, hasthus far made its greatest advances among the children and among the people who are not high in social rank. It is also the universal experience among the missionaries of every name that the people of greatest influence, wealth, and social distinction, do not attend their services. It is as true here as St. Paul found it in the lands where his missions took him, that God hath chosen the weak things; and that not many great, not many mighty, are found among the listeners to the Gospel of the meek and lowly One.

"And yet, the people here are eager for the Word of God. Wherever there is a missionary who can speak to them in their own tongue wherein they were born, his services are crowded. The common people hear him gladly."

Such was Bishop Van Buren's estimate of the problem which confronted him. Immediately, he inaugurated a determined effort to extend the influence of the Church as widely as possible. The tenth anniversar of the raising of the American flag over Guanica Bay, celebrated on July 25, 1908, marked the close of Bishop Van Buren's first six years as leader of the Church in Porto Rico. They had had been fruitful years. The number of mission stations had increased from three to number eighteen; five [66/67] schools and one hospital had been established; and in many chapels and preaching places the Gospel was being proclaimed. From San Juan, Ponce, and Mayaguez the Church had gone forth into Puerta de Tierra, a suburb of San Juan where services were begun at St. Luke's Mission on February 15, 1903; at La Carmelita, a plantation near Ponce, at Aguas Buenas, Santurce, Pueblo Viejo, and Vieques, Church services were held, as well as on many plantations. But though the Church thus reached out, it was unable to occupy all the places eager for its ministrations. Frequently, during these years, Bishop Van Buren wrote, "To name places where new missions should be started would be to name all the principal places on the Island. At least fifty places would welcome our services and in all of them land for buildings is freely offered. We need workers who understand Spanish."

From the very beginning of his episcopate, Bishop Van Buren had realized that the opportunity would be great. To that end he had started a campaign for a $30,000 Equipment Fund, and iwthin three years the completion of this fund was in sight. It was due largely to this fund that he was able to expand the ministry of the Church so as to include both educational and medical work in addition to direct evangelization.

When the United States annexed Porto Rico, fully ninety-seven per cent of the people were illiterate, and while the American Government at once dotted the Island with public schools, yet, so huge was the task, that the Church was offered an almost unlimited opportunity along educational lines. The first parish school was begun in San Juan in 1902 with sixty-seven pupils. This was soon followed by similar schools at Ponce, Mayaguez, and Puerta de Tierra. So great was the need for schools that in the second year of the San Juan School it was compelled to move from its temporary quarters to larger accomodations in the basement [67/68] of the new St. John's Church then being built. The enrollment had grown to one hundred, and many had to be turned away.

During these years, also, it became increasingly apparent that the Church must have a hospital. Plans were accordingly made in 1905 for the erection of the Memorial Hospital of St. Luke the Beloved Physician on a tract of land purchased in Ponce for this purpose. Building operations were soon begun, and in October, 1907, the building was completed and opened under the direction of Dr. Carl Vogel. Its capacity of fifty beds was soon taxed to the limit, and before many months had passed, it became necessary to plan for the addition of a second story. This was completed by December, 1908, and its private rooms enabled the hospital, through the income derived therefrom, to enlarge its charity work. The new floor also contained adequate nurses' quarters.

The work was beginning to pass beyond the foundation-laying stage. For a few years more, Bishop Van Buren labored on in the trying climate of Porto Rico; but the handicaps which he had had to face in establishing the Church in the Island, and the frequent and arduous visits home to plead for funds from a Church which seemed unable to realize the situation, finally so broke his health that in April, 1912, he was forced to present his resignation to the House of Bishops.

These last few years of Bishop Van Buren's active ministry, however, indicated the vitality of the growing Mission and the success which was to come later. The Bishop was constantly faced with the problem of a staff inadequate to man his stations. Porto Rico presented many difficulties which deterred men from volunteering for service. To the natural loneliness and separation from the homeland which ordinary service abroad entails, were added an insidious climate inducing a tropical [68/71] neurasthenia which only the most robust could withstand. Furthermore, Porto Rico was at best a poor place for a family life though, paradoxically, nothing was more needed there than the example of the Christian home. Few wives from the United States could stand the climate, and for children it offered few opportunities. The advantages for education were exceedingly limited, and the dangers of transplanting children from the temperate climate of the United States to the semi-tropical environment of Porto Rico, were great. Moreover, even in those days, the increasing cost of living made the existence of the missionary exceedingly precarious and unattractive. When to these obstacles inherent in the situation, were added the difficulties of a strange language and an inadequate conception in the United States of the conditions and opportunities offered by the Porto Rican Mission, it is small wonder that Bishop Van Buren was constantly pleading for more men and, as frequently, having to depend upon the lay help to carry on his work. And yeomen service did these lay workers render. When a single Church family moved from Aguas Buenas, it was necessary not only to suspend the work at that point but also at two or three outlying missions. So important was the aid rendered by laypeople.

But one conclusion was possible from such an experience: a native ministry was an urgent immediate necessity. The people were eager for the Church's message. It was only necessary to open a station and place in it the living voice of one capable of speaking the language of the people, and they flocked to it. Yet it was not until 1923 that the first fruits of a native ministry were realized.

Upon the resignation of Bishop Van Buren, the Presiding Bishop appointed the Bishop of Cuba, the Rt. Rev. A. W. Knight, as his commissary. It was not possible for him to visit the Island immediately; and this, together, with the very few [71/72] clergymen there, militated against any great progress being made.

In 1913, General Convention elected the Rev. Charles Blayney Colmore as Bishop of Porto Rico, and, at the same time, included this Missionary District in Province II under the provincial organization then adopted. Dr. Colmore was consecrated at Sewanee, Tennessee, December 17, 1913; and a month later sailed for his field, arriving at San Juan, January 21, 1914. He found five priests in charge of eleven stations centered about six organized missions. There were also eleven women workers and two catechists. With this staff, Bishop Colmore set about building up the work in his new charge.

It is ever the duty of the Church to blaze trails and to indicate paths of service. Thus when the Government Schools in Porto Rico reached a certain stage of usefulness, it behooved the Church to abandon its regular grade-school work and seek new avenues of usefulness. By 1914, the Government grade-schools were so proficient that the Church felt that she could begin to leave this work to them and devote her educational energies to kindergarten and primary work and to specialized training especially in industrial work.

For many years, the only rural mission of the Church in Porto Rico had been carried on at El Coto de Manati. Here, in a pineapple field and small cocoanut grove, a packing shed with a thatched roof was converted into a chapel with seats made from pineapple crates and odd boards. The first missionaries at El Coto de Manati, the Rev. J. F. Droste and his family, lived as fruitgrowers and thus came into intimate contact with the peons of the district and were able to do much to alleviate the dull monotony of their cheerless lives. The people flocked to the packing-shed chapel named The Resurrection, and before long it was [72/75] overcrowded and larger quarters had to be sought. On April 16, 1914, Bishop Colmore laid the cornerstone for a new and larger chapel to be built of solid concrete and to accommodate about 150.

The need for a school in this remote region had long been felt, but it was not possible to meet this want until 1915. In that year, the Rev. Arthur R. Gray, D.D., visited Porto Rico and, upon his return to America, wrote a book which he called The New World. This book was read and studied throughout the Church, and so great was its influence that several study-groups provided the initial $1,000 needed for a school at El Coto de Manati which was named after the book which had made it a reality--The New World School. Begun originally in 1916 as a boarding school for poor orphans, it was changed, in 1921, to a day school for the boys and girls who attended the Resurrection Chapel Sunday School. A neighboring public school provided instruction in the first three grades, so that the New World School devoted itself to providing fourth, fifth, and sixth grade instruction and, in addition, agricultural work for boys and instruction in homemaking for girls. Girls above the sixth grade are sent frequently to St. Elizabeth's Home, Ponce, for further training. This school was accredited by the Government and, in 1924, it had eighty pupils, the number limited only by the size of the building.

At Mayaguez, St. Andrews' Mission, begun in 1907 in a rambling two-storey wooden building formerly used as a coffee warehouse, took on a new lease of life a decade later with the coming of the Rev. F. A. Saylor. The old building, the lower floor of which was used for church and school and the upper floor for living quarters, was now leaning dangerously towards the street and was most unsafe. Mr. Saylor at once directed his energies to the problem of a new building, and plans were made to erect a building to cost about $20,000. Re-enforced concrete was determined upon as the [75/76] material, since wood is subject to rapid deterioration through the activity of the wood-eating polilla and the danger of earthquakes. When the earthquake of 1918 occurred, it was one of the few buildings which entirely withstood the shock. And not only was the building sound, but, when completed, the cost, instead of being $20,000, was only $2,685.30. This astonishing result was secured through Mr. Saylor's acting as his own contractor. Inspired by the example of their leader, Mr. Saylor's congregation soon rallied to his aid, and men and women gave of their time and energy to the building of the new church and school. Thus what has been characterized as the most beautiful building in Mayaguez was reared at an astonishingly low cost through the hearty devotion of the congregation.

The School which moved into part of this new structure was a day school of eight grades with an industrial department. Like The New World School it was an accredited school and, for several years past, all its graduates have been admitted to high school without further examination. The industrial department trained boys in manual training, but even in the new building the work was handicapped by inadequate space. The girls did embroidery and drawn work and, as they all came from very poor families, the return on their work was of very real assistance to them. To provide for mothers who wished to work in the industrial department, a day nursery was opened. Space for this, as well as for the school's needlework, was found in a rambling building adjoining St. Andrew's property. In 1924, this School had an enrollment of 122.

Mention has been made of St. John's parochial school, San Juan. The development of the Government educational system made some of this work unnecessary, and it was consequently abandoned, though the Church kindergarten was continued. In September, 1915, St. John's Parish established a private primary school which, in the first year of [76/79] its existence, had 57 pupils and was entirely self-supporting except for the principal's salary. This school, as well as the kindergarten, was accredited by the Government Department of Education and, in 1924, reported an enrollment of 80.

With the passage of years, it became increasingly apparent that some scheme must be devised to provide adequate training for native women workers. The plan finally adopted provided for the abandonment of work at certain points in order to release the funds necessary for this purpose, and to transfer the training centre from Ponce where a Summer Training School had been started, to San Juan, in order that the women might have the advantages of courses offered by the University of Porto Rico. Accordingly, in September, 1924, there was established in San Juan under the direction of Miss Ethel M. Robinson, St. Catherine's Training School for Women. Designed to train women for definite Church work such as teaching and parish visiting, this school had, in the first year of its existence 22 pupils.

In the rural centre of Quebrada Limon, the Church maintained a parochial school. The importance of the work carried on there and at El Coto de Manati, the two distinctly rural centres of the Church's work, cannot be overestimated; for from their endeavors must come the leaders of rural Porto Rico, just as, from the city schools, must come the leaders in urban life. Thus, under Bishop Colmore, the Church's educational work in Porto Rico began to assume definite outlines and to point toward the end desired by the Church's educational activities everywhere--the creation of a native Christian leadership capable of guiding the destinies of their native land.

The Church's medical work centres in St. Luke's Hospital, Ponce. When Bishop Van Buren resigned, the hospital fell on evil times, but in 1913, it was [79/80] reorganized under the direction of Dr. L. W. Crossman who remained in charge until March, 1916, and brought the institution to a high degree of efficiency.

Dr. Crossman's departure left the Hospital without a physician in charge, but this lack was in great measure supplied through the fine service of the superintendent, Miss Ellen T. Hicks. In 1920, St. Luke's Hospital had the reputation of being, scientifically, among the best on the Island, and, for the first time in its history, was practically free from financial difficulties. A recent visitor described it as, "a series of attractive, green-and-white-painted buildings with large balconies and spotlessly clean, airy rooms; built on a hill, with the City of Ponce below and the blue Caribbean beyond."

Adjoining the hospital grounds was a very poor section of the city. One of the visions of Miss Hicks' keen mind was a dispensary to be established at the entrance of the hospital grounds for these people. This would also give the nurses training in Public Health Work and a means of employment after graduation.

The development of the Hospital did not occupy all of Miss Hicks' energies, and it was due largely to her efforts that St. Luke's Training School for Nurses was developed. The first class of six nurses was graduated from the School in 1922. The three-year course not only trained first-class nurses but it was also a most effective agency of the Church's work. Upon one occasion Miss Hicks wrote: "During the course, there takes place in the native girls a veritable transformation in their entire bearing and appearance. Their outlook upon life is altogether changed." But, for the best results, some elementary preparation is obviously desirable, and this remains one of the Hospital's greatest problems--to secure girls with sufficient education and background to train as nurses.

[83] Important as are both the educational and medical work of the Church, they would be of little permanent value if the ultimate aim of the work were lost sight of, i.e., the creation of a national Church manned by a native ministry. One of the conditions which most impressed Bishop Colmore at the beginning of his episcopate was the great dearth of native helpers especially in evangelistic work. Within a few years, he had secured one or two postulants for Holy Orders; but, although several more sought admission, he was unable to accept them as there was no means at hand by which he could train them. By 1919, four young Porto Ricans were preparing for the ministry, and four years later on December 30, 1923, the first fruits of this important movement were realized in the ordination to the diaconate, of Antonio and Aristides Villafane. These two brothers had been attracted, as boys, to St. Luke's Church, and their regular attendance there and earnest work had early brought them to the notice of Bishop Colmore. In 1918, they made known their desire to study for Holy Orders. Henceforth they devoted themselves to preparation under the direct supervision of Bishop Colmore, while still carrying on their business as cigar makers, and in 1925 they were ordained to the priesthood. Antonio returned to Mayaguez to assist Fr. Saylor under whom he had served his diaconate, and Aristides became an assistant at St. Luke's Church, Puerta de Tierra. A third native candidate, Esteban Reus, went to the DuBose Memorial Church Training School at Monteagle, Tennessee, to complete his training, and was admitted to the diaconate on January 6, 1926, by Bishop Colmore in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York.

An event of great interest and importance was the transfer to the Church, in 1923, of an independent mission at Quebrada Limon directed by the Rev. Manuel Ferrando. At a special meeting [83/84] of the House of Bishops in November, 1923, Mr. Ferrando was elected Suffragan Bishop of Porto Rico. His consecration followed on March 15, 1924, in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York. Bishop Ferrando who was a native of Spain, born, reared, and ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Church, had come to the United States in the '90's, and was soon afterwards naturalized. He sought a field of work requiring personal sacrifice and, having come under the influence of the pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York, he soon undertook work among the neglected people of Caracas, Venezuela. He remained there for several years; but, with the transfer of Porto Rico to the United States he felt drawn to service on that island. He was the first missionary to seize the new opportunity; and then began a quarter-century of most fruitful effort on behalf of the primitive mountain folk of Quebrada Limon. At the close of this period he became associated with the Mission of our Church under Bishop Colmore, and eventually, as we have seen, was appointed Bishop Suffragan. Thus there came under the jurisdiction of our Mission the whole enterprise at Quebrada Limon, including 2500 baptized people, with fourteen stations, and a school for the training of rural leaders. Later, five of Bishop Ferrando's assistants were presented for ordination. Thus the Porto Rican Mission which, in 1922, was without a native clergy, had, four years later, seven native priests and one deacon--a situation, surely, to give the Church at home and in Porto Rico great cause for rejoicing.

The development of schools, hospital, and a native leadership must not obscure from view the more fundamental task of reaching individuals with the radiant message of Christ and gathering them into congregations. San Juan, the capital, with 75,000 inhabitants and an existence dating back to the days of Columbus, was an important centre. In [84/87] old San Juan proper, was St. John's Church; in the Puerta de Tierra section, St. Luke's; and in Santurce, St. Paul's and the Mission of the Annunciation. Puerta de Tierra, or "Gate of the Land", resembled the most densely populated tenement districts of New York or Boston, though the gradual entry of commerce was slowly transforming the district. There, near the bridge which connected San Juan island with the mainland of Porto Rico in the district which was formerly without the city walls but which became, in time, a huge barrio within the city limits, dwelt the very poor, living under the worst conceivable conditions--congested, uncomfortable, unsanitary. To such a people the Church was ever called to minister, and St. Luke's Mission with its two congregations, one Spanish and the other English-speaking, and its little day school in two basement rooms, sought to bring cheer into many dreary lives and to teach the people how to live. In Ponce, La Santisima Trinidad--the Church of the Most Holy Trinity--had upheld the light of Christianity since 1873 when the building had been shipped in parts from England to be assembled as the first non-Roman church building, in Porto Rico. After half a century of service, a new building was sorely needed and, on January 8, 1925, Bishop Colmore turned the first spade of earth for the new church. On that occasion there pealed forth "the liberty bell"-the bell put in place when the original church was built but silent until 1898 when it proclaimed in loud tones the glad news of the American occupation. The bell ringer in 1898 was a young communicant of St. John's; old and bent in 1925, he rang the bell to proclaim the dawn of a new era for the Church in Ponce. This church ministers to both Spanishand English-speaking congregations and, in addition, maintains a community centre with daily kindergarten, and reading and game rooms.

[88] Mention has already been made of the work at Mayaguez, El Coto de Manati, and Quebrada Limon. Other work includes the Mission of the Good Shepherd for the Leper Colony; the Mission of the Advent at Aguas Buenas; St. Mark's Mission at Ensenada; St. Paul's Mission at El Pastillo; smaller work at Magueyes and Quebrada Ceiba; and All Saints' Mission, Vieques. This last Mission situated on a small island of rolling hills off the southeastern coast of Porto Rico is of interest as being the second oldest non-Roman mission in Porto Rico. Begun about 1880, it passed under the jurisdiction of the American Church after the American occupation and, since 1906, has been in charge of a lone woman missionary assisted by monthly visits from a priest from the mainland. The Island which, twenty years ago, was a most lonely place is now in daily communication with the outside world and has electric lights, radio, and other modern conveniences. Its people, numbering about 12,000, are still very poor, being mainly colored folk from the British West Indies laborers in the cane-fields.

In 1925, the Church in Porto Rico numbered its communicants at about 2000, and was in contact with at least 3000 more baptized persons. These were reached through 12 stations manned by 20 workers, 13 of whom were native Porto Ricans. It was estimated that 30 per cent of the entire non-Roman Christian population were adherents of our Church.

Such was the development and progress in Porto Rico during the first quarter of the twentieth century. Even greater things may be expected in the second quarter if the Church at home lives up to its privileges and responsibilities.

The Virgin Islands

The third geographical division of the Missionary District of Porto Rico lies due east of the Island of that name and comprises three small coral formations, St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix, known as the Virgin Islands. They were discovered by Columbus on his second voyage; but not being as valuable as some of the other landfalls that were made, it was not until 1733 that they were occupied in sufficient force to assure permanent settlement. At that time, after having been tossed about between the Spanish, English, Dutch, and French adventurers for 250 years, they were finally occupied by the Danish West India Company, a corporation which, though purely commercial, was controlled by the King of Denmark as the largest stock-holder. During the 184 years of Danish occupation they thrived fairly well. Their ports, being free to all nations, were patronized by ships from all parts of the world. Moreover, the Larger Antilles not having been yet brought to such order as made planting profitable, much sugar was grown to advantage on these smaller islands. This last is an important point because those who criticise the American Government for allowing the Virgin Islands to be reduced to such a low economic state as is their lot today, do not realize that this situation would have come to pass no matter who was in control of them. Once the larger islands to the westward had been pacified and opened up to trade, and once plantation life on them had been made possible, the Virgin Islands and all the islands which form a chain from Porto Rico southward to Trinidad were commercially doomed.

When the United States bought St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix from Denmark, and the American flag had been run up on April 2, 1917, there came automatically under the jurisdiction of the American [91/92] Church, three large self-supporting parishes--All Saints', at St. Thomas (St. Thomas Id.), with 1,458 communicants; and St. Paul's, at Frederiksted, with 558; and St. John's, at Christiansted, with 555, both on St. Croix Island. These parishes had been established by the Church of England several generations before as part of that Church's missionary work in the West Indies. They had always been the dominant religious factor in the life of the people. With the generous help of the English, beautiful churches had been built. In none of our own possessions were any parishes quite so completely equipped as they were.

On the first day of May, 1918, at the request of our Presiding Bishop, the English West Indian Bishop of Antigua, in whose Diocese the Islands had been, transferred jurisdiction to the Bishop of Porto Rico. The General Convention of 1919 made them a part of the Diocese of Porto Rico and, hence, of Province II.

The three parishes above mentioned, together with one mission, were cared for by three priests, and had over 2000 communicants and 1700 Sunday School pupils. There was also one parish school. In 1924, there were 122 baptisms and 60 confirmations. These figures show a very marked decrease from those obtaining before the transfer of jurisdiction, but this may be explained, in part, by migration due to changing economic conditions.

In his report for 1924, Bishop Colmore wrote: "The economic conditions in the Virgin Islands are still far from satisfactory. There will be a good crop this year, but the best elements of the population are constantly emigrating to the United States. There is no occupation for our young men and women and little promise of the introduction of any industries which could afford them work. The parishes will not die, as there will always be an irreducible minimum of population, but the probability is that in time to come the congregations will not be able to continue their self-support and will require more and more assistance.

[93] "At present, however, there are still large numbers of people to be cared for, many more than can be reached by our present staff of workers. My plea, therefore, is always for more workers for these parishes, both clergy and women workers. Let us remember that the Church people who leave the Virgin Islands go to the United States and, if properly trained and cared for at home, will become faithful and true members of the parishes to which they go in their new abode. Our work here is largely tributary to the Church in the United States. In their present home they are attached to the Church and can be easily moulded to her ways if we have sufficient personnel. Would it not be better and cheaper to intensify the work here before they leave, thus securing them to the Church before they reach the United States and are attracted by every 'wind of doctrine'?"

Cuba

Cuba, "The Pearl of the Antilles," was, for nearly four-hundred years, an isolated colony of Spain. Its material development had been dwarfed by the Spaniard's policy of forbidding colonists to produce commodities which could be raised in the mother country. In Cuba this meant that a land endowed with great vegetable and mineral wealth could not be used to the best advantage, or, to be specific, could be used only for the production of sugar and tobacco. The result of this economic policy was increasingly disastrous, compelling Cuba to import most of its foodstuffs and essential commodities, and making it, even today, one of the most expensive countries in which to live.

The Island of Cuba, our nearest island neighbor, is 730 miles long with an average width of 60 miles, and has an area of 4,700 square miles. Within this territory live only about three million people, giving the Island the very low average density of 73 people to the square mile. Except when labor troubles intervene, all parts of Cuba are accessible by railroad. The largest cities are Havana, the capital and principal port with a population of 432,000; Camaguey, with 98,000; Cienfuegos, with 95,000; Santiago, with 70,000; Guantanamo, with 68,000; and Matanzas, with 62,000.

While the cities are, comparatively speaking, progressive, and the people who dwell in them well taken care of, the country districts are in a very backward state. It would be hard for an American to realize how void of all the conveniences of life are these districts wherein live more than half of the Island's population. This applies in matters religious quite as well as in things secular.

[96] Since, as has been indicated, Cuba is a land of great mineral and vegetable wealth, it will not be long before this now under-populated country is filled to overflowing. Already people have begun to pour in. It is, therefore, urgent that the Church increase her efforts. The newcomers are, in some instances, from the United States--men who are going down there to work on or manage the sugar plantations, or to raise citrus fruits, or to work the great manganese and iron mines in the northeastern corner. Then there are Jamaican Negroes coming in great numbers to work at the cutting of the sugar cane. During recent years, they have been coming in by hundreds, and even thousands. Lastly, there are people from Europe who, having heard of the wealth of this new land, are hastening to take advantage of its riches.

If one would have an idea of the conditions under which our work in Cuba began, he must picture to himself a people so little concerned about religious liberty that they did not know whether they were free or not,--did not know, and never made any effort to find out. This did not apply to every one, of course, but it was true of the rank and file. It was a land of contented discontent, of ignorant ignorance, of small local revolts but of no large national movements, of medieval sterility. It was a part of the New World that needed help from the other parts which had surged forward on the tide of progress.

In 1871, Bishop Whipple of Minnesota, desirous of visiting Haiti, missed his boat, and in order not to lose time waiting for the next one, took a boat then about to sail for Havana and planned to proceed to Haiti after visiting Cuba.

On the voyage south, the captain of the ship said to him one day, "Here am I making regular trips to Havana, but if I should die in Havana, I could not have a Christian burial." This casual remark increased the Bishop's already keen interest in the religious condition of Cuba; and when, upon arrival, he learned that there was no ship sailing to Haiti, he visited the American [96/97] Consul in Havana to learn if it would be possible to hold a Church service in the city. In view of the strained relations between the United States and Spain at that time, the Consul did not think it advisable that a public service be conducted, but suggested that the Bishop might seek the consent of the Captain-General of Cuba. To this Bishop Whipple replied, "Certainly not. I have been in Spain and I know that the Spanish constitution gives permission for foreigners domiciled in Spain or its colonies to worship God according to their accustomed forms of faith. I shall act under this authority, and if anyone dares to meddle with me, I think that my country will protect me." Meantime, at the request of the British Consul-General, Bishop Whipple held a private service for him at his hotel, and service was also held aboard the United States man-of-war Swatara.

Bishop Whipple, however, was keenly anxious to conduct a public service, and the opportunity soon came. The German Consul-General asked him to perform a marriage ceremony at the Consulate, and, soon after, a public service was held there. This was the first non-Roman service held in Havana. Bishop Whipple's visit was a great blessing to many residents of the Cuban capital; he was able to administer the Blessed Sacrament to some who had been deprived of it for more than a decade.

More than a quarter of a century later, The Times of Cuba wrote as follows concerning the events of this early period under the caption, The First Protestant Church:

"The American Episcopal Church is making diligent efforts to reach the American colony in this city (Havana). This was the first Protestant Church to begin evangelistic work in the Island of Cuba. As many as twenty-five or thirty years ago, before the edict of toleration was published, the Rev. Edward Kenney held `private' services in the parlours of the Pasaje Hotel. A little congregation was gathered by personal invitation Mr. Kenney labored here for perhaps fifteen years under the auspices of no [97/98] missionary society but obtaining contributions for the support of his work in response to circulars sent from time to time to Episcopal clergymen in the United States."

The Mr. Kenney, mentioned in this quotation, was the first resident chaplain in Havana. His appointment was an outgrowth of the interest created by the visit of Bishop Whipple who, throughout his brief stay in Havana, had ministered as best he might to all who came to him in trouble--black or white, Spanish or English-speaking.

After the outbreak of civil war in the Island, in 1875, a large number of Cubans were driven into exile; and many of them came to America where they found themselves in contact with American Christianity which they soon learned to value. Centres of worship were provided for these refugees in Key West, Philadelphia, and New York.

A few years later, in 1882, the Female Bible Society of Philadelphia began to circulate Bibles in Cuba. This activity aroused the ire of priests of the Roman Catholic Church who ordered the Bibles burned. Nevertheless, the colporteurs of the society persevered and presently there were candidates for the ministry of the Church. One of these, Senor Pedro Duarte, not wholly satisfied with distributing Bibles, was sent to Matanzas where he organized our first congregation--"Fieles a Jesus"--and held the first Church service on August 5, 1883. Other centres of work were similarly begun. They flourished so well that in 1885, when Bishop Young, of Florida, visited the Island, 325 candidates were presented for confirmation.

For a long time the new workers were challenged and persecuted in their work, as it was taken for granted to be against the law to worship God except under the auspices of the Spanish Church. It remained for Senor Duarte, however, who knew the law better than did his opponents, to meet the issue with the local authorities by appealing to the Spanish Government. Then came a royal decree which affirmed the religious freedom law as passed in Madrid in 1876.

[99] Shortly afterwards, Senor Duarte went to Philadelphia where he studied for Holy Orders under the direction of the Rev. Edward W. Syle. While he was absent from Cuba, Bishop Young of Florida visited the Island twice, and, upon his return, sought aid from the Board of Missions for the struggling work in Cuba. The financial condition of the Board prevented its undertaking this responsibility, and when Senor Duarte was ordained to the diaconate in 1885 and was ready to return to Cuba, he was dependent for his support upon the newly organized "Ladies' Cuban Guild," of Philadelphia. For over three years the women of the Guild supported Senor Duarte until the American Church Missionary Society, upon recommendation of the Board of Missions, assumed responsibility for the Cuban Mission. This happy situation was brought about largely through the efforts of Bishop Whitaker of Pennsylvania to whom, in 1887, had been assigned the episcopal oversight of the Island. The work prospered; an unpretentious building was erected in Matanzas, and a second congregation was organized under the name of St. Peter the Apostle, while in the Jesus del Monte suburb of Havana, a building was purchased. An American missionary, the Rev. A. H. Mellen, was appointed, and an active campaign was planned.

The outbreak of the next revolution, however, prevented this movement from maturing. The attitude of the civil authorities compelled Mr. Mellen and his assistants to withdraw, and for a time their efforts seemed frustrated. The issue of war was finally decided in favor of the revolutionists, and Cuba was set free to work out her own destiny. Our missionaries returned, and aggressive work was planned. Bishop Whitaker revisited Cuba early in 1900 and found seventeen days ample time in which to visit our work, so small was it at that time. In Havana, progress was sorely hindered by the unsuitable places in which services were held. For many months during 1899, the only place available for service was a small room over a cheap restaurant. There, not infrequently, noise and profanity forced [99/100] their way from the restaurant below into the little chapel. This was particularly obnoxious to the Cubans whom the chapel aimed to reach. In 1900, the congregation moved to a building of the American Subsistence Department, but the uncertainty of the Church's tenure there also proved a great obstacle to the work. In the Jesus del Monte section, a candidate for Holy Orders conducted a large Sunday School.

The pioneer worker, Mr. Duarte, was still at Matanzas where, in addition to his regular services, he conducted a large day school for about 160 boys and girls, and a girls' orphanage, housed in a converted sugar house. Orphans had always interested Mr. Duarte. About this time he wrote: "Orphans are counted here by the thousands, and I see that this gives us a very good opportunity for the establishment of a Church asylum wherein to shelter children of all ages."

The other native clergyman, the Rev. M. F. Moreno, was stationed at Bolondron where, like Mr. Duarte, besides holding services in a chapel occupying the larger part of his own house, he maintained an orphanage. Notwithstanding such poverty of resources--or possibly by reason of it--no fewer than 115 persons were presented for confirmation on the occasion of Bishop Whitaker's visit in 1900. It is interesting to note that at this time the Church's work was confined to four centres, in only one of which did it own property; and that a staff of three priests (two American, one Cuban,) one Cuban deacon, and two Cuban lay readers, ministered to six congregations.

Bishop Whitaker's visit revealed very clearly again that the field was in need of a resident Bishop. As early as 1885, Bishop Young had earnestly pleaded that a Bishop be consecrated for Cuba, but it was not until the General Convention of 1901 that the Island was constituted a Missionary District. The election of a Bishop was, however, postponed. In the interim, the Presiding Bishop designated the Bishop of Porto Rico as Bishop-in-charge of the new district. The difficulties of travel between the two islands were such that [100/103] it was impossible for any real good to come out of this arrangement, and the situation remained unchanged until the next General Convention, when the Rev. Albion W. Knight was elected the first Bishop of Cuba. His consecration followed almost immediately and, in January, 1905, he went to his field. At a conference of workers which he called immediately upon his arrival, the following programme was formulated: "To seek out the American and English residents; to shepherd the shepherdless of whatever nationality; to provoke to good works the old Church in the Island and the different missionary organizations at work in Cuba; and to teach Christianity as this Church has received it, without rancor to others, and without apology for our Mission."

Bishop Knight found the Mission at a very low ebb. The American missionaries had been withdrawn, and only a single Cuban priest and a single Cuban deacon remained at work. The whole situation was most discouraging since, for thirty years, the history of the Church's work in Cuba had been one of beginnings and cessations, and there had been little to impress people with the stability of our purpose. The coming of Bishop Knight, however, seemed to augur better days, and he immediately surveyed the field and made plans to man the stations at the ten points where services had been held. In Havana were two missions--Holy Trinity, and Calvario at Jesus del Monte. The former occupied a rented store on the Prado and ministered to a mixed congregation of English, Americans, and Cubans numbering about 160 communicants. Services were conducted in English in the morning and in Spanish in the evening. Despite its intermittent leadership, this mission had become very nearly self-supporting. The mission in Jesus del Monte was an entirely Cuban work. In its own building, containing chapel, school room, and living quarters, the Mission reached 45 communicants with 60 children in its day school, and 90 in the Sunday School. At Matanzas, the oldest centre on the Island, Mr. Duarte had retired, and the work [103/104] was in charge of a colored deacon. Here the Church had sixty communicants and a parish school of 116 carried on in the old orphanage. In the farming districts centering around Guayabal and Bacuranao services were held in such places as were available, and in the latter place a Sunday School of forty was maintained.

At Bolondron, a town of 2000 people, the Church had a little chapel, and from there the missionary went to La Union for occasional services. In Sagua la Grande and La Gloria were small English-speaking congregations without any sort of church buildings, though La Gloria was planning to erect a chapel. Camaguey was a most important and strategic point; nevertheless the church was dependent upon whatever might be loaned it for a place to hold service. On the Isle of Pines regular services were held in two small chapels at Columbia and Santa Rosalia, and occasional services at Nuevo Gerona and Santa Fe.

In March, 1905, a colored deacon trained at St. Augustine's, Raleigh, North Carolina, was sent to Santiago de Cuba to begin work among his own people. There was still, however, a great need for work among the whites there. At Guantanamo, the Church took over the School and Home formerly carried on by an American woman, and was promised two lots for Church purposes. Occasional services were also held at this time in Nuevitas where there were four communicants; and, in the Vedado district of Havana, a school for girls was begun late in 1905.

While Bishop Knight was making every endeavor to keep all these various stations open and to extend the work as rapidly as circumstances would permit, the calls he received were constant. At one time, no less than ten places were on the waiting list. At the first annual convocation, held in January, 1906, it was reported that there were ten teachers in parochial schools having 300 pupils. A similar number were in Sunday Schools, and there were 450 communicants. By the close of the year, the number of stations occupied was [104/107] twenty-five, and only the shortage of men and equipment prevented this number being doubled. During the decade of Bishop Knight's episcopate, the Church's work was pushed into every corner of the Island and among every class. Some of the many demands could be met through monthly visits of a missionary; in other cases the people formed congregations on their own initiative with never a visit from a missionary.

Simple as were the beginnings in many instances, efforts were always made to secure adequate quarters for the work. Between 1908 and 1913 substantial churches or chapels were built at La Gloria, Ensenada de Mora, and Guantanamo,--the two last-named being made possible through the generosity of Church people in Philadelphia. At Limonar, a church was erected and completely furnished, except for the organ, by the people themselves. Chapels were built at three places on the Isle of Pines. In Havana, the English-speaking congregation of Holy Trinity under the leadership of the Rev. C. B. Colmore, undertook the task of building a new church to serve as a Pro-Cathedral. Begun in 1907, the church was opened for services in a little more than a year although with a debt which was not entirely paid until sixteen years later.

Though the work was thus expanding, the changes of population and especially the shifting of Americans about the Island led in some instances to the abandonment of work when the people for whom it was maintained moved away. For example, in one town, a colony of Canadians settled. The Church ministered to them and gradually the congregation grew and a building was erected. After a time the colony began to dwindle away until no one was left, and at last the deserted church was destroyed by a cyclone. Such was the fate of much of the early English-speaking work of the Church. In many cases, however, the places of the Americans were taken by Cubans, and the Church hoped to reestablish her work for them as soon as suitable leaders could be secured.

[108] The future of the Church in Cuba as in other lands depends upon its educational work. As the children are influenced, so the future is shaped. Mention has been made of the girls' school in the Vedado section of Havana. At the close of the year 1905, the Church was maintaining day-schools at Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, and at Jesus del Monte, Havana. At Guantanamo and Matanzas, where old orphanages were used, a few boarding pupils could be accommodated. This was a small beginning, but it developed rapidly. Within the next few years; schools were opened in Guantanamo for colored Jamaican children; at Guanabacoa for girls; at Limonar for the industrial and manual training of Negro boys; at Constancia for the children of workers on the plantations; and in Havana for boys. Besides these major projects, educational work was begun at Bolondron, Sante Fe, Chaparra, and Colon. By 1910, the Church had 18 educational institutions with 929 pupils. It is worthy of note that these schools gradually came to be largely selfsupporting, no less than four-fifths of the teachers' stipends being provided by the tuition-fees.

Any account of the educational work of the Church would be most inadequate without mention of the keystone of the system--a theological training school. Such a school was begun in the Mission House at Jesus del Monte, Havana, in the autumn of 1907 with six resident and three non-resident students under a faculty composed of Messrs. Sharpe, Steel, Colmore, and Morall. More men than could be accepted applied for admission, and so began the institution which has proved such a force in the life of the Church in Cuba.

Though it had been the recognized aim of the Cuban Mission to have as many parochial schools as possible, and though, as we have seen, marked success had attended the establishment of the parochial system, it became apparent with the passing years that the welfare of the Cuban Church demanded the establishment, in the capital, of strong educational institutions for boys and girls. With limited funds, however, concentration [108/111] in Havana meant partial withdrawal elsewhere, and in view of the importance of the matter as well as of an impending change in episcopal jurisdiction, it was thought best to postpone action.

In October, 1913, Bishop Knight requested the House of Bishops to relieve him of responsibility in Cuba in order that he might accept the Vice-chancellorship of the University of the South. The House of Bishops accepted his resignation but appointed him Bishop-in-charge until his successor could be elected and consecrated. Thus Bishop Knight was able to round out a decade of service as Bishop of Cuba, during which time he had increased the number of congregations from 10 to 37, communicants from 200 to over 2000, clergy from 2 to 24, and parochial school pupils from 75 to over 800.

At a special meeting of the House of Bishops in October, 1914, the Rev. Hiram R. Hulse, one-time General Secretary of the American Church Missionary Society, was elected Bishop of Cuba. He was consecrated on January 12, 1915, and proceeded at once to his field where he continued to build the Church in Cuba on the foundations and along the lines so ably laid out by Bishop Knight.

Almost simultaneously with the resignation of Bishop Knight, two of the pioneer missionaries with him left the Island. One of them, Dean Colmore of Holy Trinity Pro-Cathedral, was called to the Bishopric of Porto Rico; the other, Mr. Sharpe, who had been in the Island since Bishop Whitaker's visit of 1900, resigned after years of devoted and effective service. Thus important posts were left vacant, and the new Bishop was faced with the extra problem of securing new missionaries. For the Pro-Cathedral, he secured the Rev. George B. Myers who remained as dean until 1922 when the University of the South elected him to one of its professorships. He was succeeded, in October, 1923, by the Rev. Harry Beal, rector of Grace Church, New Bedford, Massachusetts, under whose leadership the congregation finally paid off the debt on [111/112] the building, and the Cathedral was consecrated on March 2, 1924. On this occasion, the first Bishop of Cuba, Bishop Knight, under whom the Cathedral had been begun, was present.

Bishop Hulse, in assuming the Cuban episcopate, became the leader of a three-fold work, i.e., among native Cubans, among Americans and other English-speaking colonists, and among the large population of West Indian Negroes who had always turned naturally to the ministrations of the Episcopal Church.

CUBAN WORK.

The Cuban work was carried on in Spanish, and was conducted from nineteen centres. Of steadily increasing importance, the task lay in building up stable congregations especially in the small towns and rural parts of Cuba where no Church of any kind had ever ventured, and to seek out places in need of the Church's ministrations. In some respects Cuba is still a frontier country, developing rapidly in many places. In the centre and in the east new towns are continually springing up. The development of the Cuban and Northern Railroad systems boomed the towns along their lines, and in many of these growing towns there were no churches or schools, and no services of any kind had ever been held. It was the policy of the Mission to search out such places and begin services in Spanish. Some of our most successful work has been done in this way. At Moron, the headquarters of the Northern Railroad, the president of the railroad gave the Church a lot upon which a school and residence were built. Plans for a church were prepared; and, until it could be built, the school-room was used for services The opportunity in these towns was great, and it was urgent that the church recognize it at once; for other Christian bodies, Roman Catholics, Methodists, and Baptists were seeking locations in which to work.

[115] A few years ago one of our missionaries went to a town of this kind and started services; he soon had a congregation. A Sunday School in Connecticut heard of the situation, and gave the money for a church. In one year this Mission reported 103 baptisms.

It is sometimes asked why, if the people are so much interested, they do not put up their own churches. The answer is that in most cases they are too poor. Cuba suffers from absentee ownership. One-third of her sugar-mills are owned in the United States. The workmen in many of these places see very little money from one year's end to another. They are paid off in orders on the company store. At the end of the year when a settlement is made, they find they have eaten up or worn out all that is coming to them.

This Cuban side of our work has substantial characteristics; we are building for the future, laying the foundations of the National Church which is to be. In 1925, the Church had 42 places in which services for Cubans were held in Spanish. It is noteworthy that the largest number of baptisms and candidates for confirmations come from these places.

WORK AMONG AMERICANS AND ENGLISH

After the Spanish-American War, American interest in Cuba drew many of our countrymen there. Some settled in the cities. In Havana, for example, there grew up a large American colony, engaged in every kind of commercial enterprise. Others settled outside the cities on plantations; and, attracted by the beautiful climate, established themselves in small settlements, seeking in most instances to make a living by raising oranges, lemons, pineapples, and grapefruit.

Though the stranger escapes many of the hardships of the North, the tropics have their own ways of discomforting him. Northern women find the constant heat enervating, and they are much annoyed by the multiplicity of insect life. The men find that the [115/116] ordinary temptations of life come with redoubled force under the tropical sun. The Cubans are a sober race, but the Northern settler finds many temptations to drink, and if he gives way he soon falls into other and more serious vices. What the scientists tell us about the unfavorableness of the tropics for people from the North is true, and those who go down there need the steadying hand of the Church. As a worker of many years' service wrote:

"Subject to the conditions of life in a new country--where the old neighborhood restraints no longer exist, these settlers are in special need of the ministrations of the Church. They need the restraints and incentives of religion. Patriotism and Christian statesmanship, as well as Christian devotion, force upon us our responsibility for our own people. We must do our part in seeing that the Americans are well represented in this neighboring island, that the Cubans may have a chance to see what kind of Christian manhood is produced by our interpretation of Christianity. High-minded and clean-living laymen make our best missionaries, and if we cannot hold our own we will be able to make little impression on those outside the fold."

From the very beginning, this aspect of our work in Cuba was emphasized. At the close of Bishop Knight's episcopate there were congregations of Americans and other English-speaking residents in no less than fifteen towns, and occasional services were held in many of the rural districts where American colonists had settled.

One of the early centres of American life was the Isle of Pines which, because of its supposed status as United States' territory under the terms of the treaty which closed our war with Spain, proved peculiarly attractive to our countrymen. When, however, this status was called in question and finally settled in favor of Cuba, the American settlers promptly showed a tendency to leave. There were five missions of the Church there, four church buildings, a school, and one rectory. The one missionary resident on the Island [116/117] held four services every Sunday, making his way from place to place in an automobile, driving his car over sixty miles each Sunday, as well as preaching four sermons.

Though the American colonies established in Cuba at the time of the Occupation, have gradually grown smaller, there were, in 1925, more Americans on the Island than ever before. Aside from the considerable American group in Havana, they are widely scattered, mainly on the extensive sugar-plantations located for the most part in isolated and remote places. Under such circumstances, wherever the co-operation of the planter promised a certain degree of permanence, the Church has endeavored to erect suitable buildings.

WORK AMONG NEGROES.

The development of eastern Cuba brought many Negroes from other parts of the West Indies, especially Jamaica. When the Island was at last freed from periodic revolutions, it offered better opportunities for making a living than could be found in the English West Indian possessions. As a result, beginning about 1910, the Jamaican immigration proceeded without interruption; by 1925, it had assumed enormous proportions. The majority of these incoming Negroes belonged to the Church of England, and thus a very serious obligation was laid upon our own Church. Referring to this subject in June, 1920, Bishop Hulse said that though the newcomers "desire and need our ministrations, we cannot reach them all because we have so few workers. We have need of men to go from place to place in the Provinces of Camaguey and Oriente organizing congregations and ministering to these newcomers."

It seems deplorable that in the face of so great an opportunity, the lack of facilities should prevent the Church from complete contact with a Negro population having close affiliation with our own branch of the Church but likely to drift away from it through the greater diligence of other Christian bodies.

[118] The early years of Bishop Hulse's episcopate were crowded with the difficulties attendant upon the World War. In 1917, social unrest led to an attempted revolution. Strikes and epidemics interfered with the orderly development of our Mission, not to mention the hardships entailed by the ever increasing cost of living and by sickness and death among the workers. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, however, there were certain compensations. The social and intellectual unrest made the people ready to listen to new voices, and gave the Church an opportunity for a hearing. There were not lacking signs of a religious revival. At the same time, this very awakening produced, among the isolated natives, a recrudescence of animism; the Negroes showed a tendency to revert to their old voodoo practices; and the cult of spiritism in various forms became popular among the educated classes.

During this period, the Church was constantly receiving calls to enter new places; but was unable to respond, largely because of the shortage of workers. This scarcity of workers was making it difficult even to maintain established work. The resignation of a single worker early in 1920 deprived no less than six places of regular services. On the whole, however, the Mission showed fairly steady progress. Land was secured either through purchase or gift in Santa Cruz del Norte, Cespedes, Sueno, Paso Estancia. At each of these places, within a very short time, buildings were erected. The building in the Sueno section of Santiago was a combination of church and school, and was the first building erected by the Church there. It was of great importance in increasing the interest of the people in our work.

After the existing work was strengthened, which was the first aim of the Church's policy, new work was initiated in small towns unoccupied by any other Christian body. This was, of course, entirely in accord with the policy which had taken the Church into the country districts and had made us a pioneer in that field.

[119] The most important advance in the work was begun in 1919 with the opening of a boy's boarding school in Marianao, a suburb of Havana. Five years later, this school was closed and the furniture moved to Camaguey where a boarding school was opened in a rented building.

Everywhere the Church's educational equipment was outgrown. The new school building at Guantanamo was so overcrowded that a large class had to be held on the Church porch; at Sueno and Cuabitas the schools were filled to capacity. In fact the school at Sueno was so popular that there was room for only the very small children. Day schools were begun at Cespedes and Nueva Gerona in 1921, and the next year a new church and school building was begun in Santiago de Cuba. But always the shortage of workers made it difficult to maintain the ground won.

In the five years ending with 1920, the Church in Cuba had lost seven men by death or resignation and had only added two by ordination in the field. One of these was the Rev. Juan McCarthy, for many years a Baptist missionary in Cuba. He became attracted to our Church and was ordained deacon in October, 1920. He was advanced to the priesthood the next year and assigned to Camaguey where he began a notable work.

Some years ago, the editor of a Cuban newspaper wrote: "We have given up worshiping God and now we worship `what they say'." In such a situation, the great contribution of the Church must be the establishment of schools under Christian auspices. Here the youth of Cuba can be freed not only from ignorance, but from the domination of false and selfish ideals; here, the sanctity of the body can be emphasized, and its development secured; and from such schools we may presently see arising the Christian ideal of service.

In estimating the success of the Church's work in Cuba, too much emphasis must not be placed on its material growth, but rather it must be judged by the extent of its indirect influence on the community. The [119/120] religious and social atmosphere must be changed before great gains can be hoped for, and the Cubans must be convinced that we are in Cuba as Christians and not as Americans, and that the purpose of the Church's endeavor is to build up an independent native Church, self-governing, and self-supporting.

Photographs

The Rt. Rev. James T. Holly, D.D., LL.D.
First Bishop of Haiti, 1874-1911

West Indian street scene

Primitive sugar press

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Fort Ozama, Dominican Republic

Typical Haitian houses

Palm thatched church, Cassale

Girls' school, Gros-Morne

Village of Cabaret

Chapel of the Resurrection, Gros-Morne

Chapel at Bigone

The Rev. Alexander Baptiste

Fortune Pierre Louis, Lay Reader

Divinity School, Port-au-Prince

Church at Nivard near Mirebalais

The Rev. Pierre E. Jones

The Rev. Edouard C. Jones

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port-au-Prince

Procession, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port-au-Prince

Church people on the island of Gonave. Many have never seen a church.

The Rt. Rev. Harry R. Carson, D.D.
Second Bishop of Haiti, 1923—

Fording a Haitian river

Bishop Carson on a flying visitation

Bishop Carson dedicates a country chapel

Native market place, Casselle

Chapel of the Redeemer, Leogane

Chapel in mountain district, Haiti

"Bishop, please give us a school."

Gateway to Santo Domingo

St. Stephen's School, San Pedro de Macoris

St. Gabriel's Church, Consuelo

River scene, Dominican Republic

Basket man, Dominican Republic

Epiphany School, Santo Domingo City

Street in Ponco, Porto Rico

San Juan Gate

The Rt. Rev. James H. Van Buren, D.D.
First Bishop of Porto Rico, 1902-1912

St. Luke's Memorial Hospital, Ponce

The Rt. Rev. Charles B. Colmore, D.D.
Second Bishop of Porto Rico, 1913—

Church of the Resurrection, El Coto de Manati

The New World School, El Coto de Manati

St. Andrew's Church and School, Mayaguez, Porto Rico

Church of the Atonement and Mission House, Quebrada Limon, Porto Rico

The Rt. Rev. Manuel Ferrando
Suffragan Bishop of Porto Rico, 1923—

Church of the Atonement, Quebrada Limon

Breaking ground, Holy Trinity Church, Ponce

Ward, St. Luke's Hospital, Ponce

St. John's Church, San Juan

Native Clergy at Quebrada Limon

Holy Trinity Church, Ponce, Porto Rico

St. John's Church, St. Croix, Virgin Islands

St. Paul's School, Frederiksted, V.I.

Village street scene, Cuba

Village in the interior of Cuba

The Rt. Rev. A. W. Knight, D.D.
First Bishop of Cuba, 1904-1913

The Rt. Rev. Hiram R. Hulse, D.D.
Second Bishop of Cuba, 1915—

Chapel at Esenada de Mora

Church of the Fieles a Jesus, Matanzas

All Saints Church, Guantanamo

St. Mary's Church, Santiago

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Havana

Interior, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Havana

St. Michael's Church, Ceballos

 

Project Canterbury