CALABAR, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — In Nigeria, at the estuary of the Cross River. Missionary work in the territory of the Apostolic Vicariate of C. began with the mission station at C., a center for Negroes, where in 1903 schools were opened that immediately met with success, despite the prior and predominant presence of the Presbyterian mission. The station at Ogoja was founded in 1921 in an attempt to make the first conversions among the Muncsi. On 9 July 1934, together with Benue, the area was erected into the Apostolic Prefecture of C., with territory taken from the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Nigeria, losing in the process the two civil provinces of Ogoja to the east and C. to the south. The progress of the mission, which accelerated after the creation of the autonomous prefecture, led the Propaganda to establish—only four years later—another prefecture, Ogoja (v.), detaching the homonymous province from C. It is entrusted to the Irish Society of St. Patrick, whose Fathers had been working in Nigeria since 1920. In 1947 it was elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate.
It has an area of approximately 10,139 sq. km. and, according to 1948 statistics, a population of nearly one million (890,503), belonging to various Bantu and Sudanese tribes, mostly pagans; there are few Muslims (about one thousand), but Protestants are powerful (270,000); Catholics number 62,956, with 29,458 catechumens, served by 27 priests, one of whom is indigenous, and 41 sisters, 20 of whom are native. Since 1937, Catholics have greatly expanded their health activities, with the collaboration of the new Medical Missionary Society of Mary (M.M.M.); educational work is represented by 241 elementary schools with 21,515 pupils, 38 middle schools with 2,125 students, two normal schools with 123 pupils, and one for catechists with 41 aspirants.