Beni, in Belgian Congo, Apostolic Vicariate of

BENI, IN BELGIAN CONGO, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - This vicariate was erected on 9 February 1938, but the Assumptionists who direct it had already been working in that territory since 1920, having been called there by Msgr. Grison, apostolic vicar of Stanley Falls.

The natives, helped also by the good roads of the place, flocked in masses to the chapel-schools of the mission, including the chiefs, and even some sultans. After five years, in 1934 the territory was officially detached from the mother mission of Stanley Falls and constituted as a mission sui iuris, which, after another four years, was elevated to the rank of apostolic vicariate, without passing through the intermediate stage of prefecture. The most prosperous region is the southernmost one, whereas around B. itself and to the north and north-west, progress is slower, both because of the Arabization that had already taken place in some centers (Mambasa), and because of the swarming of secret sects among the negroes of the forest, especially that of the leopard-men, who carry out terrible vendettas on behalf of their tribe.

According to the statistics of 1948, it has an area of 40,000 sq. km. with a population of about 375,000 inhabitants, of whom 91,606 are indigenous Catholics, 270 foreigners, 49,901 catechumens, 150 Oriental dissidents, 8,000 Protestants, 1,250 Muslims, 225,000 pagans. There are 10 primary stations and 30 secondary ones with 40 missionaries, of whom one is indigenous, 8 brothers and 16 sisters, and a new indigenous congregation. The elementary schools number 344 with 16,167 pupils; the hospitals 2 with 230 beds and the leprosaria 3 with 413 inmates.

Giovanni B. Tragella