BELIZE, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - The mission, begun in 1851 by the Jesuits of the apostolic vicariate of Jamaica and detached from it for the erection of the apostolic prefecture of Honduras (16 May 1888), on 3 Jan. 1893 at the request of the Catholics was elevated to a vicariate, which later changed its name to that of B. (15 Dec. 1925).
Area of the vicariate, whose boundaries coincide roughly with those of the colony: 24,600 sq. km.; total population (approximate estimate 1939): 57,767 inhabitants: 35,000 Catholics, of whom about 18,000 are Maya, speaking Mayathan and Mopán, who immigrated from Guatemala and Yucatán, preserving the faith instilled in them by the Franciscans; about 17,000 mestizos and 250 foreigners. There are furthermore about 22,370 Protestants, 35 Jews, 30 Muslims, 200 pagans. The works of the mission, distributed among 9 primary and 132 secondary stations, were attended (Jan. 1949), besides the ordinary, by 4 secular priests and 30 Jesuits, 4 scholastics and as many Jesuit coadjutors. The sisters number about 100 (Sisters of Mercy; of Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.; of the Pious Missions of Limburg on the Lahn; of St. Agnes; of the Holy Family; Negro sisters).
Serious obstacles arise from the dislocation of the 54 stations for the Maya, settled in tribes in the western and northern part of the colony, mostly in the jungle; as well as from widespread immorality and the scarcity of missionary personnel. However, the fortunate increase of schools (59 elementary with 6,608 pupils, and two secondary with over 200 pupils in 1948) and the activity of other cultural centers have contributed to the formation of a Catholic outlook, the basis of a more rapid and secure development of the mission.
Bibliography4 works
Giuseppe Monticone