Smyrna

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LATIN ARCHDIOCESE OF SMYRNA (SMYRNENSIS), inAsia Minor.

The city of Smyrna rises like an amphitheatre on the gulf which bears its name. It is the capital of the vilayet of Aïdin and the starting-point of several railways; it has a population of at least 300,000, of whom 150,000 are Greeks. There are also numerousJews andArmenians and almost 10,000EuropeanCatholics. It was founded more than 1000 years B.C. by colonists from Lesbos who had expelled the Leleges, at a place now called Bournabat, about an hour's distance from the present Smyrna. Shortly before 688 B.C. it was captured by the Ionians, under whose rule it became a very rich and powerful city (Herodotus, I, 150). About 580 B.C. it was destroyed by Alyattes, King of Lydia. Nearly 300 years afterwards Antigonus (323-301 B.C.), and then Lysimachus, undertook to rebuild it on its present site. Subsequently comprised in the Kingdom ofPergamus, it was ceded in 133 B.C. to the Romans. These built there a judiciaryconventus and a mint. Smyrna had a celebratedschool of rhetoric, was one of the cities which had the title ofmetropolis, and in which theconcilium festivum ofAsia was celebrated. Demolished by an earthquake in A.D. 178 and 180, it was rebuilt byMarcus Aurelius. In 673 it was captured by a fleet ofArabMussulmans. Under the inspiration ofClement VI the Latins captured it from theMussulmans in 1344 and held it until 1402, when Tamerlane destroyed it after slaying the inhabitants. In 1424 theTurks captured it and, save for a brief occupation by theVenetians in 1472, it has since belonged to them.

Christianity was preached to the inhabitants at an earlydate. As early as the year 93, there existed aChristian community directed by abishop for whom St. John in the Apocalypse (1:11;2:8-11) has only words of praise. There are extant two letters written early in the second century fromTroas bySt. Ignatius of Antioch to those of Smyrna and toPolycarp, theirbishop. Through these letters and those of theChristians of Smyrna to the city ofPhilomelium, we know of two ladies of high rank who belonged to theChurch of Smyrna. There were otherChristians in the vicinity of the city and dependent on it to whomSt. Polycarp wrote letters (Eusebius,Church History V.24). WhenPolycarp wasmartyred (23 February), theChurch of Smyrna sent anencyclical concerning his death to theChurch ofPhilomelium and others. The "Vita Polycarpi" attributed toSt. Pionius, apriest of Smyrnamartyred in 250, contains a list of the firstbishops: Strataes; Bucolus;Polycarp; Papirius; Camerius; Eudaemon (250), whoapostatized during thepersecution ofDecius; Thraseas ofEumenia,martyr, who was buried at Smyrna. Noctos, a Modalistheretic of the second century, was a native of the city as were also Sts. Pothinus andIrenaeus of Lyons. Mention should also be made of anothermartyr, St. Dioscorides,venerated on 21 May. Among the Greekbishops, a list of whom appears inLe Quien, (Oriens Christ., I, 737-46), was Metrophanes, the great opponent of Photius, who laboured in the revision of the "Octoekos", a Greekliturgical book.

The Latin See of Smyrna was created byClement VI in 1346 and had an uninterrupted succession of titulars until the seventeenth century. This was the beginning of the Vicariate Apostolic ofAsia Minor, or of Smyrna, of vast extent. In 1818Pius VII established the Archdiocese of Smyrna, at the same time retaining thevicariate Apostolic, thejurisdiction of which was wider. Its limits were those of thevicariates Apostolic of Mesopotamia,Syria, and Constantinople. The archdiocese had 17,000 LatinCatholics, some GreekMelchites, called Alepi, andArmenians under special organization. There are: 19secular priests; 55 regulars; 8parishes, of which 4 are in Smyrna; 14 churches with residentpriests and 12 without priests; 25 primaryschools with 2500 pupils, 8 colleges or academies with 800 pupils; 2hospitals; and 4orphanages. The religious men in the archdiocese or thevicariate Apostolic areFranciscans,Capuchins,Lazarists,Dominicans,Salesians of Don Bosco,Assumptionists (at Koniah),Brothers of the Christian Schools, and Marist Brothers (at Metellin). Religious communities ofwomen are theCarmelites, Sisters of Charity (13 houses with more than 100 sisters), Sisters of Sion,Dominicans of Ivrée,Sisters of St. Joseph, and Oblates of the Assumption.

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