Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/302

MISIONES 254 MISSIONS MISIONES (me-se-6'nes), an Argen- tine territory; lying between the Uru- guay and the Parana; bounded on all sides but the S. W. by Brazil and Para- guay; area 23,932 square miles; pop. (1918) 57,544. The greater portion of the surface is covered with forest, pro- ducing building and dye-woods, oranges, medicinal herbs, and the yerba mate. Maize is largely grown and sugar-cane. MISKOLCZ, a city of Hungary, in the county of Borsod. It has many im- portant public buildings and prior to the World War had an extensive trade in wine, agricultural products, and cattle. There were manufactories of flour, shoes, china, etc. Pop. about 52,000. MISPRISION, in law, every such high offense as is under the degi'ee of capital, but nearly bordering thereon. Mis- prisions are either negative, which con- sist in the concealment of something which ought to be revealed; or positive, which consist in the commission of some- thing which ought not to be done. Of the first or negative kind, is "misprision of treason," consisting in the bare knowl- edge and concealment of treason, with- out any degree of assent thereto, for any assent makes the party a traitor. "Mis- prision of felony" is also the concealment of a felony which a man knows, but never assented to, for if he assented, this makes him either principal or ac- cessory. MISSAL, the book containing the whole service of the mass throughout the year. In its present arrangement it dates from about the middle of the 14th century. The Roman missal is used gen- erally throughout the Roman Church, though the Ambrosian obtains in the diocese of Milan, and many religious orders have their own missals, differing only in unimportant particulars from the Roman. Eastern Christians of the Com- munion with Rome have missals peculiar to their own rite. MISSIONS, an organized method of propagating a religion: specifically, the propagandism of Christianity among the heathen. Apostolic and Medixval Missions. — The Gospel made great progress during the lifetime of the apostles and found a footing in most countries to the E. and N. of the Mediterranean. It was also successfully introduced into Egypt and other African regions. As the result of persecutions thousands of converts were scattered abroad and Christian churches were founded in Persia, Mesopotamia, and Arabia. Within a century after Christ the Gospel had probably been preached over a large part of the Ro- man world. Alexandria early became noted for its missionary college from which teachers were sent to all parts of the world. By the close of the 2d cen- tury also Carthage had its church with Tertullian at its head. In 306 19 bis- hops assembled at Elvira in Spain. The Goths and Vandals came down on the Roman empire from the N. and carried away many Christian captives. Ulfilas, the descendant of one of these, translated the Bible into Gothic and is regarded as the Apostle of the Goths. Before the time of Constantine there were churches of considerable extent in the S. and N. sections of Britain, due not so much to missionaries as to the natural intercourse of Britain with Rome. These churches, however, became distinguished for their missionary zeal and Saint Patrick is commonly regarded as their leader. He found Ireland entirely heathen and lived to see it become Christian. As the Scotch Patrick was the apostle to Ire- land, so in a certain way was the Irish Colomba the apostle of Scotland. The island of lona with its monastery became a sort of missionary center and Aidan went from there to Northumbria and es- tablished missions. The Scotch-Irish missionaries were the evangelists _ of a large part of the European continent. Columbanus, Gallus, and "a host of others numerous as a swarm of bees," introduced, together with religion, agri- culture and civilization into France, Switzerland, and other parts of Europe. The English Boniface became the apostle of Germany. Ansgar, a monk of Corvey in the 9th century, under the influence of Louis the Pious, preached in Den- mark and Sweden. The Russian prince Vladimir was baptized in 988 with all of his sons (in the Dnieper at Kief) and his people. Kublai Khan, a grandson of the famous Genghis Khan, a ruler of the E. Mongol empire, sent for missionaries to tell him about the new doctrine. It is supposed that the Nestorian-Tartar church flourished till the country was devastated by the Mongols. It is al- most certain that the Nestorians intro- duced the Gospel into India and that they passed through Tartary into China and founded churches there which ex- isted till the end of the 9th century. As early as the year 1200 Albert I. of Ap- peldern went with a band of pilgrims to the mouth of the Diina river and founded the city of Riga and established there the Brotherhood of the Knights of Christ, or the Brethren of the Sword. He has been called the Bishop of Livonia. One of the most remarkable missionaries of the Middle Ages was Raymond Lully.