Haiti

HAITI. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - A mountainous, very fertile island, lying between Cuba and Puerto Rico; it has an area of 76,420 sq km and is the second of the Greater Antilles.

Formed predominantly of very ancient rocks (crystalline schists, gneiss, basalts, andesites), it is covered by compact limestones and Mesozoic argillaceous limestones. The region, traversed in its center by a great mountain chain, presents morphologically mature forms. Climatic conditions are very varied owing to the diversity and complexity of the relief. Given the abundant rainfall, H. is rich in perennial watercourses, though of short course, given the structure and the extent of the region. During the French dominion, which began in the middle of the 17th century, the Negroes imported from Africa were superimposed upon the indigenous inhabitants and the white immigrants.

Politically the island is divided into the two Republics of S. Domingo and of H. The latter comprises the western part of the island of the same name, with an area of 27,884 sq km and a population of about 2,500,000 inhabitants. Half a thousand Italians, out of 4,000 whites, live in the capital Port-au-Prince, the largest center of the island. Agriculture is the chief occupation; the cultivation of coffee, introduced there in 1738 by the Jesuits, is highly developed. Sugar cane, cotton and cocoa are good economic resources. The greatest trade is carried on especially with the United States, within whose sphere of influence the Republic is placed.

Gastone Imbrighi

II. EVANGELIZATION

Under Spanish rule the peaceful Indians, little accustomed to work, among whom the missionaries had labored (v. DOMINICANA REPUBBLICA), had been exterminated and replaced by black slaves imported from Africa. In the 17th century the western part of the island became French (from 1659, legally from the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697).

Jesuits, Dominicans and Capuchins undertook the mission among the slaves, who were won to the Church, although they remained entangled in fetishism, sorcery and superstitions. After the expulsion of the Jesuits in the 18th century and of the Dominicans and Capuchins in the course of the struggle for independence, the Republic of H. (from 1804) introduced a regime of State Church, which was in force until 1860. In 1860 a concordat was concluded and in 1861 the ecclesiastical hierarchy was erected with the archdiocese of Port-au-Prince and the suffragan sees of Les Cayes, Cap-Haïtien, Les Gonaïves and Port-de-Paix. Only Port-au-Prince had its archbishop; the other dioceses, on the other hand, were occupied only over the course of the years, in 1873, 1893, the last in 1928. It was above all Archbishop Alexis-Jean Guilloux (1819 [1870]-85) who labored for the improvement of the ministry of souls and of the schools. As the country lacked priestly vocations, a special seminary for H. was erected in Brittany, from which over the course of 70 years more than 520 priests came forth. Since 1922 there has also existed a seminary in H. However, despite the efforts of the Montfortians in Port-de-Paix (from 1871) and of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Les Cayes (from 1942), the scarcity of priests remains great.

Giovanni Rommerskirchen

III. ECCLESIASTICAL DISTRICTS

Haiti has one metropolitan see: Port-au-Prince (Oct. 3, 1861), with 4 suffragan sees: Les Cayes (Oct. 3, 1861), Cap-Haïtien (Oct. 3, 1861), Les Gonaïves (Oct. 3, 1861), Port-de-Paix (Oct. 3, 1861).

For the map of the ecclesiastical circumscriptions, v. ANTILLE.

IV. LEGAL STATUS OF THE CHURCH

Relations between the Church and the State are governed by the following agreements: 1) Concordat, ratified on May 10, 1860, with two annexed notes in return; 2) Additional conventions of Feb. 6, 1861 and June 17, 1862; 3) Convention "on the property of the Catholic Church in H. and on the organization and administration of parish fabric committees," ratified at Port-au-Prince on Jan. 25, 1940.

The Concordat, stipulated about 90 years ago, assures the state authority, in the person of the President of the Republic, many privileges, some of which are today entirely unusual: the privilege of appointing bishops, who may exercise jurisdiction only after having received canonical institution; the Holy See may, at its judgment, defer it or even not confer it; in which case it must inform the President of the Republic, who will proceed to appoint another candidate (art. 4); an oath of fidelity on the part of bishops, vicars general, pastors and parochial vicars and of all the other members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and of those who are at the head of schools and religious institutes (art. 5); the obligation for bishops to consult with the president or his delegates in order to modify the boundaries of parishes (art. 11) and to erect religious orders and institutions (art. 12).

In the two annexed notes in return, the meaning and extent of certain articles of the Concordat are better determined, and it is established that, should the case arise in which the President of the Republic did not profess the Catholic religion, the Concordat will be modified with regard to the rights that it attributes in it to a Catholic president, and that could not be exercised by one who professed a different religion.

Neither the Concordat nor the other agreements expressly regulate certain matters of vital importance for the Church, such as marriage and teaching; there is only the general provision of art. 17 of the Concordat, according to which "all points concerning ecclesiastical matters, of which no mention is made in the present Concordat, will be regulated in accordance with the current discipline of the Church approved by the Holy See."

It does not appear, however, that this provision has been taken into account with regard to the legal regulation of marriage. In fact, Haitian legislation, modeled on the French, recognizes civil marriage and permits divorce; and a law ratified by the government on May 6, 1949 has facilitated its procedure even further. However, a law of Dec. 16, 1929, completed by a presidential arrêté of Jan. 10, 1930, should be recalled, by virtue of which religious marriage, not only the Catholic one, may have, under certain conditions, civil effects.

As for schools, art. 23 of the new Constitution, which came into force on Dec. 23, 1946, proclaims freedom of teaching "in conformity with the law, under the control and supervision of the State, upon which rests the duty to take an interest in the moral and civil formation of citizens." The functions of the State with regard to private schools were fixed in a decree-law of Jan. 17, 1942. In practice, Catholic schools enjoy great freedom, and there are many of them, although their number is insufficient for the need.

In state schools religious instruction is obligatory. How much the government appreciates the work of the Church in the education of youth is proved, among other things, by the Convention signed on March 3, 1932 by the bishops and by the government and ratified by Parliament on July 6 of the following year, by which the founding, organization and direction of "presbyteral schools" subsidized by the State are entrusted to rural pastors.

A law issued in July 1947 threatened to disturb in some way the good harmony existing between the government and Catholic private schools. The law provides that "the history and geography of H. and civic instruction may be taught only by Haitian professors."

The Frères de l'instruction chrétienne refused to comply with this provision in their schools; they have, however, founded a juvenat for native vocations, which will allow them to have their own Haitian professors; for its part, the government has not imposed the application of the law on the aforementioned religious.

The Convention of Jan. 25, 1940 regulates many important questions concerning the property of the Church in H., and the organization and administration of parish fabric committees. By it, juridical personality and the right of ownership and of the free administration of their own property are recognized for the Catholic Church and its institutes (dioceses, seminaries, parishes, religious congregations).

The bishops are the administrators of the property of their respective dioceses (art. 2) and have high supervision over parochial property and its administration.

This is entrusted to the pastor and to the director of the Council of Notables, assisted by a fabric committee (art. 8), whose composition and functions are minutely described in arts. 9-33.

The property of a parish church may be used only for the benefit of that same church (art. 4). The buildings destined for worship, the episcopal residences, the parochial houses and their annexes, the seminaries and the buildings destined for teaching are exempt from taxes (art. 5); the immovable property of the churches may not be sold, alienated or exchanged without the authorization of the higher ecclesiastical authorities (art. 42). The right of the Church to make collections for religious and charitable purposes is recognized (art. 7).

Noteworthy are the contributions of the State to the Church. As regards parish churches, the contributions are given by the Commune (art. 53), for cathedral churches, episcopal palaces and diocesan seminaries by the Government (arts. 59-62).

The latter, moreover — in execution of the commitment under art. 6 of the additional convention to the Concordat, dated June 17, 1862 — pays an annual subsidy to the Seminary of St-Jacques, in the diocese of Quimper, in France, where the French priests who wish to go to exercise the sacred ministry in H. are prepared (in the Republic, out of about 300 priests, only some forty are Haitian; the others are for the most part of French origin), and to the Apostolic School and Minor Seminary of Port-au-Prince. Other contributions are fixed in this Convention and in the other of Feb. 6, 1861 for the archbishop of Port-au-Prince and the bishops of the other dioceses, for the vicars general, the pastors and the parochial vicars.

To these the President of the Republic Élie Lescot, in a decree-law of Jan. 12, 1943, extended the right to a civil pension, confirmed by decree of the Government Junta of H. dated Aug. 28, 1950.

Ippolito Rotoli

IV. SCHOOL SYSTEM

The rural school is the center of the education of the youth of H., where, in addition to spelling, arithmetic and geography, hygiene, sewing, embroidery, carpentry, weaving, practical agriculture and animal husbandry are taught. There are 563 state rural schools, 105 Catholic primary schools, 6 national lyceums directed by religious. The education of teachers is provided in the "School of Applied Sciences and Agriculture" and in the summer courses for teachers, which are compulsory.

The University of H., founded in 1921, continues the traditions of the National School of Medicine, Surgery and Pharmacy, founded in 1863, and of the National School of Law, founded in 1859.

The education of the Catholic clergy is provided in the Ecole Apostolique Notre-Dame à l'Archevêché à Port-au-Prince, in the Grand Séminaire de St-Jacques à Lampaul-Guimiliau, in the Collège St-Martial à Port-au-Prince and in the minor seminary Ecole Apostolique à St-Pol de Léon.