BENI (El-Beni), Apostolic Vicariate of. - The restorer, in Bolivia, of the ancient Franciscan and Jesuit missions was the Franciscan Andrea Herrero who, assisted by Italian and Spanish confreres, founded in 1835 the apostolic colleges of Sucre and La Paz, to which some parishes and all the residences on the rio B. remained entrusted.

In 1919 the Propaganda suppressed the said colleges, whose task passed to the seraphic province of Andalusia. Meanwhile the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs erected the apostolic vicariate of B., entrusted to the Minorite Order, detaching from the archdiocese of La Paz or Charcas a vast region, which extended from the feet of the Andes to Brazil and which in 1942 was in turn divided up for the subsequent creation of the vicariates of Pando and Reyes.

Area of the territory, comprising the provinces of Cercado and Itenez and half of the province of Yacuma: approx. 180,000 sq. km.; total population: 44,805 inhabitants, for the most part Indians and mestizos; the others, Bolivians and foreigners. Besides the 42,000 Catholics there are counted approx. 140 Protestants, very few Jews and 2,500 semi-civilized pagans. The 8 quasi-parishes and a few other residences are entrusted to 9 Franciscan priests with one brother, all Spaniards. Five elementary schools with 325 pupils are in operation.

Evangelization is less advanced in the Yacuma and in the Itenez, because of the presence of the Protestants. Other obstacles, in general, derive from the lack of communications, especially during the annual floods (only a few centers being connected to Trinidad by air), from the unfavorable climatic and hygienic conditions, as well as from the almost general brutishness of the natives, due to various causes, not excluding the semi-slavish exploitation by especially adventurers coming from neighboring states. The aforementioned territorial division, however, gives grounds for hope of a more fruitful future, since it has allowed the gradual concentration of the all too scanty missionary personnel.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: AAS, 10 (1918), p. 9; Acta Ord. Fratrum Min., 38 (1919), p. 208; Guida delle Missioni Cattoliche, Rome (1933), pp. 304-305; Conspectus Missionum O.F.M., Quaracchi 1938, pp. 345-49; AAS, 34 (1942), pp. 329-30, 361-63; Arch. di Prop. Fide, Prospectus Status Missionis, 15 Aug. 1948; MC, p. 44.

Giuseppe Monticone

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Beni (El-Beni), Apostolic Vicariate of

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