BHAMO, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. - It was erected in 1938 with territory detached from the vicariate of Northern Burma (which on that occasion had its name changed to that of Mandalay). It is entrusted to the (Irish) missionaries of the Society of St. Columban for the Chinese missions. It has an area of about 100,000 sq km and a population estimated at 6 to 700,000 souls. The northernmost part is inhabited by tribes still savage and uncontrolled, among which human sacrifices are still in force and of which no reliable statistics can be had. The southern part comprises the civil districts of B., Mytkyna and Kama (except the Mogok circle) with an area of 58,176 sq km and 718,615 inhabitants (Burmese and Shan, of Buddhist religion, and Kachin, animists). The Protestants are about 16,000; the Catholics, almost all of Kachin stock, are about 3,802, and the catechumens 4,206.

The prefecture has 10 mission residences with as many little wooden churches, and 33 priests. The nuns number 16 and attend to the various orphanages and schools. In the 17th and 18th centuries some missionaries passed through there on their way to Tibet.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: AAS, 31 (1939), pp. 101-62; for the retrospective history of the mission, cf. Société des Missions Étrangères. Compte rendu des travaux de 1938, Paris 1939, pp. 195-200; MC, p. 47; Archiv. di Propag. Fide, Prospectus status missionis, Pos. Prot. n. 3819/48.

Valentino Belgeri

@incollection{ec2_bhamo_prefettura_apostolica_di, author = {Belgeri, Valentino}, title = {Bhamo, prefettura apostolica di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {1538}, 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/bhamo-prefettura-apostolica-di} }

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Bhamo, Apostolic Prefecture of

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