Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/76

This page needs to be proofread.

SLAVS


54


SLAVS


from frequent internal dissensions (chiefly of an old- world political nature) among themselves. They have 152 Greek Catholic churches, with a Greek clergy consisting of a Greek Catholic bishop who has his seat at Philadelphia, but without diocesan powers as yet, and 127 priests, of whom 9 are Basilian monks. During 1911 Ruthenian Greek Catholic nuns of the Order of St. Basil were introduced. The Ruthenians have flourishing religious mutual benefit societies, which also assist in the building of Greek churches. The " Soj'edineniya Greko-Katolicheskikh Bratstv" (Greek Catholic Union) in its senior division has 509 brotherhoods or councils and 30,255 members, while the junior division has 226 brotherhoods and 15,200 members; the "Russky Narodny Soyus" (Ruthenian National Union) has 301 brotherhoods and 15,200 members; while the "Obshchestvo Rus- skikh Bratstv" (Society of Russian Brotherhood) has 129 brotherhoods and 7350 members. There are also many Ruthenians who belong to Slovak organiza- tions. The Ruthenians publish some ten papers, of which the "Amerikansky Russky Viestnik", " Svoboda", and " Dushpastyr" are the principal ones.

Vn. Servians (Srbin; adjective srpski, Ser- vian). — This designation applies not only to the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Servia, but includes the people of the following countries forming a geo- graphical although not a political whole: southern Hungary, the Kingdoms of Servia and Montenegro, the Turkish Provinces of Kossovo, Western Mace- donia and Novi-Bazar, and the annexed Austrian provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The last two provinces may be said to furnish the shadowy boundary line between the Croatians and the Ser- vians. The two peoples are ethnologically the same, and the Servian and Croatian languages are merely two dialects of the same Slavic tongue. Servians are sometimes called the Shtokavski, because the Ser- vian word for "what" is shto, while the Croats use the word cha for "what", and Croatians are called Chakavski. The Croatians are Roman Catholics and use the Roman alphabet (lalinica), whilst the Servians are Greek Orthodox and use the Cyrillo- Russian alphabet (cirilica), with additional signs to express special sounds not found in the Russian. Servians who happen to be Roman Catholics are called Bunjevad (disturbers, dissenters).

Servian immigration to the United States did not commence until about 1892, when several hundred Montenegrins and Servians came with the Dalma- tians and settled in California. It began to increase largely in 1903 and was at its highest in 1907. They are largely settled in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and lOinois. There are no governmental statistics showing how many Servians come from Servia and how many from the surrounding provinces. The Servian Gov- ernment has established a special consular office in New York City to look after Servian immigration. There are now (1911) about 150,000 Servians in the Uniteil States. They are located as follows: New p;nel:in(i States, 25,000; Middle Atlantic States, 50,000; Mi.lille Western States, 25,000; Western and Pacific States, 25,000; and the remainder throughout the Southern States and .\laska. They have brought with them their Orthodox clergy, and are at present affiliated with the Ru.ssian Orthodox Church here although they expect shortly to have their own na- tional bishop. They now (1911) have in the United States 20 churches (of which five are in Pennsylvania) and 14 clergy, of whom 8 are monks and seculars. They publish eight newspapers in Servian, of which "Amerikanski Srbobran" of Pittsburg, "Srbobran" of New York, and "Srpski Gla.snik" of San Francisco are the most important. They have a large number of church and patriotic societies, of which the Serb Federation "Sloga" (Concord) with 131 Hridlva or councils and over 10,000 members and "Prosvjeta"


(Progress), composed of Servians from Bosnia and Herzegovina, are the most prominent.

VIII. Slovaks {Slovak; adjective sloL'ensky, Slo- vak). — These occupy the north-western portion of the Kingdom of Hungary upon the southern slopes of the Carpathian mountains, ranging over a territory comprising the Counties of Poszony, Nyitra, Bars, Hont, Zolyom, Trencsen, Turocz, Arva, Lipt6, Szepes, Sdros, Zemplin, Ung, Abauj, Gomor, and N6grad. A well-defined ethnical line is all that divides the Slovaks from the Ruthenians and the Magyars. Their language is almost the same as the Bohemian, for they received their literature and their mode of writing it from the Bohemians, and even now nearly all the Protestant Slovak literature is from Bohemian sources. It must be remembered however that the Bohemians and Moravians dwell on the northern side of the Carpathian mountains in .\ustria, whilst the Slovaks are on the south of the Carpathians and are wholly in Hungary. Between the Moravians and the Slo\-aks, dwelling so near to one another, the relationship was especially close. The Slovak and Moravian people were among those who first heard the story of Christ from the Slavonic apostles Sts. Cyril and Methodius, and at one time their tribes must have extended down to the Danube and the southern Slavs. The Magyars (Hungarians) came in from Asia and the East, and like a wedge divided this group of northern Slavs from those on the south.

The Slovaks have had no independent history and have endured successively Polish rule, Magyar con- quest, Tatar invasions, German invading coloniza- tion, Hussite raids from Bohemia, and the dynastic wars of Hungary. In 1848-49, when revolution and rebellion were in the air, the Hungarians began their war against Austria; the Slovaks in turn rose against the Hungarians for their language and national customs, but on the conclusion of peace they were again incorporated as part of Hungary without any of their rights recognized. Later they were ruthlessly put down when they refused to carry out the Hun- garian decrees, particularly as they had rallied to the support of the .\ustrian throne. In 1861 the Slovaks presented their famous Memorandum to the Imperial Throne of Austria, praying for a bill of rights and for their autonomous nationality. Stephen Moyses, the distinguished Slovak Catholic bishop, besought the emperor to grant national and language rights to them. The whole movement awoke popular enthusiasm. Catholics and Protestants working together for the common good. In 1862 high schools were opened for Slovaks; the famous "Slovenska Matica", to publish Slovak books and works of art and to foster the studj- of the Slovak history and language, was founded; and in 1870 the Cathohcs also founded the "Society of St. Voytech", which became a powerful helper. Slovak newspapers sprang into existence and 150 reading clubs and libraries were established. After the defeat of the Austrian arms at Sadowa in 1866, pressure was re- sumed to split the empire into two parts, Austrian and Hungarian, each of which was practically inde- pendent. The Slovaks thenceforth came wholly under Hungarian rule. Then the Law of Nationali- ties was passed which recognized the predominant position of the Magyars, but gave some small recog- nition to the other minor nationalities, such as the Slovaks, by allowing them to have churches and schools conducted in their own language.

In 1878 the active Magyarization of Hungary was undertaken. The doctrine was mooted that a native of the Kingdom of Hungary could not be a patriot unless he spoke, thought, and felt as a Magyar. A Slovak of edui'ation who remained true to his ancestry (and it nnist be remembered that the Slovaks were there long before the Hungarians came) was considered