CAQUETÁ, Apostolic Vicariate of. — In Colombia. The territory of Caquetá was first evangelized, with the Spanish conquest, by the Franciscans, coming from Quito and Popayán, who remained there until the beginning of the 19th century, making numerous conversions and watering the soil of the mission with their blood. Around the mid-19th century, that is, after the conclusion of Colombia’s war of independence, some Jesuit Fathers arrived in Caquetá, but they left after two years. From 1880, the mission was entrusted to the Archdiocese of Popayán and then to the Diocese of Pasto, from which it was separated in 1902 to be erected as an Apostolic Prefecture, assigned to the Capuchin Fathers of Catajogna, who had entered the territory four years earlier. In 1930, it was erected as an Apostolic Vicariate.
The total area of the mission is 257,240 sq. km.; it has about 64,300 inhabitants, of whom 63,000 are Catholic and the rest pagans. There are 24 Capuchin religious and one secular priest working there, two communities of Marist Brothers numbering 10, and four communities of Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis numbering 80; both groups direct schools, orphanages, and hospitals. The territory is divided into 11 parishes and one parochial vicariate. The mission borders on the dioceses of Garzón, Ibarra, Pasto, Popayán, the Apostolic Vicariate of Piani di San Martino, and the Apostolic Prefecture of San León de Amazonas.
CARA. "French Jewish family (Hebrew: qārā’ = the reader), of which three rabbis are noteworthy:
Menâḥîm ben HElbô (11th century), the first in chronological order among the exegetes of the French school, who, together with Rashi, initiated the movement of reaction against moral-allegorizing interpretation. Simeon ben Heloô, called had-Darôbu («the homilist»), brother of the former. The attribution to him of the midrashic collection Yalqût Sim'ônî has been demonstrated false by L. Zunz. A commentary on Proverbs is cited as his. His son Joseph ben Sim'ôn was an exegete; seeking the literal biblical sense with greater ardor than Rashi, whose commentaries he took as a basis, adding his own, he departed from tradition, anticipating modern methods. His commentaries, which embrace almost the entire Old Testament, exercised great influence.