BENGHAZI, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — Cyrenaica as an autonomous mission began in 1927 with the division of the ancient Vicariate of Libya (v.); in 1939, with the creation of the Apostolic Vicariate of Derna (v.), which took away the homonymous province, the territory of the Cyrenaican mission was halved, and the vicariate took its name from the vicarial residence, B. Its first vicar was Msgr. Bernardino Bigi (1927-30), who in 1929 blessed the first stone of the new cathedral, then provided churches for the new centers that lacked them, and, to strengthen the mission’s activity, appealed to the Franciscan province of the Marches, to which he entrusted the care of the eastern part (Derna) of the mission.
After Msgr. Bigi’s death in 1930 in Mogadishu, his successor Msgr. Candido Moro continued and intensified the spiritual, educational, and charitable work. The apostolic work here has the metropolitan character of pastoral care rather than the missionary character of spreading the Gospel among the infidels; indeed, the attitude of the Muslims toward the mission has been, especially since the time of Msgr. Bigi, among the most correct and even cordial, while the mission does its utmost to reach—with delicacy and without conflict—their hearts through its manifold educational, charitable, and spiritual activities of prayer.
By June 1939, when the eastern part was detached to form a separate circumscription, the Vicariate of B. counted 30 priests and 8 Franciscan Brothers, 9 Brothers of the Christian Schools, and 103 sisters from four different religious congregations. The Catholics numbered 40,441, all Italians, distributed in 21 parishes and 5 secondary stations. In recent years the mission has suffered the repercussions of the war—the Cyrenaica was far more tried than Tripolitania—and the activity of the vicar, the priests, and the sisters, all of whom remained at their posts, has been entirely absorbed by the material, moral, and spiritual assistance to the populations. Following the events of the last world war, the situation of the vicariate has changed greatly. According to the statistics of 1948, the Catholics number 570 with 2 catechumens, missionaries 10, brothers 3, sisters 44. There are 2 elementary schools with 180 pupils. The mission publishes several monthly periodicals: *La Cirenaica cristiana*, *La fiaccola*, the latter being the organ of Catholic Action, and *Luce e vita*.