"True Standing of Catholic Higher Educational Institutions" of English Canada: The 1901 Falconio Survey‪.‬

In July of 1901, Monsignor Diomede Falconio (1842-1917), OFM,(2) the Apostolic Delegate, dispatched a one-page survey to all superiors of institutions of Catholic Higher Education in Canada. He sought, through the eleven-item questionnaire, "to report to the Holy See on the true standing of the higher educational institutions of Canada."(3) The survey asked respondents to report on the numbers of pupils and teachers, the number of state certified teachers, the textbooks in use, and the spiritual life of the pupils. Falconio's survey elicited 227 responses, which are currently filed in correspondence of the Apostolic: Delegate to Canada at the Archivo Segreto Vaticano. They appear as a group, organized by ecclesiastical provinces and dioceses. There are no references to a final report being prepared, nor is there evidence that the data collected were ever compiled or utilized in any other form. The data contained in the responses detail the state of higher education in the seven ecclesiastical provinces of Canada, and the one American ecclesiastical province that includes two Canadian dioceses.(4) Drawing from this rich data set, this paper deals exclusively with the information reported for English Canada.