LOWER CALIFORNIA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. - The peninsula of Baja California (Mexico) was under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles (present-day Monterey-Fresno) until the erection of the apostolic vicariate (1874), which was entrusted to the secular clergy. Its evangelization began in 1550 and came to a halt with the revolutions of the 19th century and the anticlericalism of the last fifty years, which prevented any serious work.
The people are good and very religious: it is easy to see persons of every social condition, sex, and age praying in public with their arms outstretched in the form of a cross, dragging themselves on their knees from the church door to the altar, and going to Communion wearing the large scapulars of the various confraternities. Since 1939 the vicariate has been entrusted to the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, mostly Mexicans, who devote their activities to the northern part of the territory; in the south, the fathers of the Verona African Missions have been working since the beginning of 1948. Overall, the works of the mission are well established.
The total population amounts to approximately 240,000 inhabitants, most of them Catholics, with 3,000 pagans and an unspecified number of Protestants. There are 32 priests, including Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, Verona Fathers, and Friars Minor. The seminary has approximately 60 students. There are thirteen communities of sisters, which maintain several small colleges and relief stations. There are 12 quasi-parishes, 17 churches, and 15 chapels.