CAPE TOWN, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — It is the
former vicariate of the Cape of Good Hope, western district,
established in 1847 through the division of the then single
mission of the Cape, with several successive territorial
amputations. It is entrusted to the secular clergy, and a
cosmopolitan staff works there amid no small difficulties,
which, moreover, are common to all the missions of
southern Africa.
The territory extends over 30,892 sq. km., with a population
of about 600,000 inhabitants, of whom 3/5 are in the capital
Cape Town alone; there are very few Orthodox, but Protestants
are overwhelming in number, more than 550,231, and there
are 10,000 Muslims, while indigenous pagans number only
5,000. According to 1947 statistics: there are 72 priests,
from various Congregations, about half of whom are secular.
There are 39 brothers and 353 sisters. Catholics number
28,700, catechumens 394. There are 30 convents, 50 schools
of various levels with 12,176 pupils, 2 hospitals, 3 dispensaries,
3 orphanages, 4 “hostels.” The mission publishes the weekly
*The Southern Cross*, in many thousands of copies distributed
throughout southern Africa.