Burma, Apostolic Vicariate of Southern

SOUTHERN BURMA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. — Mission created in 1866 (under the name of South-Western B.) and definitively in 1870 (v. BIRMANIA), and which has undergone various changes since then. It has been directed, from the outset, by the Fathers of the Paris Foreign Missions. The central residence is Rangoon, the political capital of B. and seat of the government of the recent Burmese Republic. It is the only vicariate that does not take its name from the 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 of the immense Irrawaddy delta. In the urban centres, the greater missionary activity is directed toward Eurasian Catholics, Indian immigrants (almost all Tame), who form separate parishes, and Chinese immigrants; Indians and Chinese, however, are also scattered outside the city. In the districts, primary care is devoted to the Karen tribes, who are increasingly isolating themselves from their Burmese rulers. North of the vicariate, the Cehin tribe has formed a Christianity of its own. The French missionaries (1948) number 25, assisted by 43 indigenous priests and 43 indigenous catechists; the nuns number 238, belonging to several Congregations (of the Apparition of Marseille, Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, Little Sisters of the Poor, of the Good Shepherd, and three indigenous Congregations), and there are 25 Brothers of the Christian Schools. The schools and charitable institutions (leprosariums, shelters, etc.) have been developed. The Catholic community numbers 69,872 individuals and has a magnificent Gothic cathedral.