BAHAMAS (LUCAYAS). - A coral archipelago stretching north of Cuba, from Florida to Haiti, made up of about thirty larger islands (Andros, Great Abaco, Grand B., etc.), 660 islets and 2,400 rocks (cayos), which together cover an area of 11,405 sq km (less than half of Sardinia). It has a temperate, uniform and healthy climate, which has made it a health resort, sought especially by tourists from the U.S. and Canada. Its main resources are sponge fishing and horticulture (tomatoes). The B. form a colony of the English Crown.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: R. M. Fiedl, Geology of the B., in Bull. of Geol. Society of America, 42 (Washington 1931), pp. 759-84; H. Maclachlan Bell, B.: isles of June, London 1934.

Giuseppe Caraci

THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF BAHAMAS

The Lucayan or Bahama Islands, at first (1808) entrusted to the Archbishop of Baltimore as apostolic delegate, then included in the apostolic vicariate of the Most Holy Trinity, created in 1818 (v. PORT OF SPAIN, archdiocese of), thereafter incorporated (1837) into that of Jamaica (v.), later annexed to the diocese of Charleston, South Carolina (1858), were finally, by virtue of the "Sapienti consilio" (1908), officially entrusted to the Archbishop of New York, under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory; this, by decree of 21 March 1929, erected the Bahamas into an apostolic prefecture subject to the Propaganda Fide, which then decreed its elevation to a vicariate (15 Jan. 1940). The Benedictines of the abbey of St. John, Collegeville, Minn., have worked there since Feb. 1891, sent by the Archbishop of New York to direct the station of Nassau (founded in 1885). Since 1933 the circumscription has depended on the apostolic delegation of the United States of America.

Area of the territory (province of B. Islands) 11,405 sq. km.; total population 74,448 inhabitants, mostly Negroes and Negroids of English language. Catholics 10,226 and 360 catechumens; 250 dissidents of the Byzantine rite; 62,437 Protestants of various denominations; 175 Jews and 1000 pagans. Other data: 23 priests and two Benedictine brothers, 29 nuns, and 49 catechists; 20 elementary schools with 2091 pupils and 3 middle schools with 166 students; clinic, orphanage.

The mission develops haltingly both because of a shortage of personnel, considering the great distances between the seven residential stations, and because of the considerable activity of the non-Catholics.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: Archivio di Prop. Fide, Prospectus Status Missions, 30 June 1942 and 3 July 1948, posiz. n. prot. 3657/48; Ius Pontif. de Prop. Fide, V, 172; AAS, 33 (1941), pp. 67-68; Guida delle Missioni Cattoliche, pp. 291-92; MC, pp. 159-60.

Giuseppe Monticone

@incollection{ec2_bahama_bahamas_lucaie, author = {Caraci, Giuseppe and Monticone, Giuseppe}, title = {Bahama (Bahamas, lucaie)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {693--694}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bahama-bahamas-lucaie} }

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Bahamas (Lucayas)

THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF BAHAMAS

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