Southern Burma, Apostolic Vicariate of.
A mission created in 1866 (under the name of Southwestern Burma) and definitively established in 1870 (see BURMA), which has undergone several changes since then. It has been directed from the outset by the Paris Foreign Missions Society. The central residence is Rangoon, the political capital of Burma and seat of the government of the recent Burmese Republic. It is the only vicariate that does not take its name from a city but retains the ancient name of the region. It has a population of 7,000,000 inhabitants, and missionary activity is divided between the capital and the rural districts of the mountains or the immense delta of the Irrawaddy. In the urban centers, the main missionary activity is directed toward Catholics and Eurasians, Indian immigrants (almost all Tamils) who form separate parishes, and Chinese immigrants; Indians and Chinese are, however, also scattered outside the city. In the districts, the principal care is devoted to the Karen tribes, who are becoming increasingly isolated from the Burmese rulers. To the north of the vicariate, the Cehin tribe has formed a Christian community of its own. The French missionaries (1948) number 25, assisted by 43 priests and 43 indigenous catechists; there are 238 sisters from several congregations (of the Apparition of Marseilles, Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, Little Sisters of the Poor, the Good Shepherd, and three indigenous congregations) and 25 Brothers of the Christian Schools. Schools and charitable works (leper hospitals, refuges, etc.) are well developed. The Catholic community numbers 69,872 individuals and has a magnificent Gothic cathedral.