Coquilhatville [Mbandaka], Apostolic Vicariate of

COQUILHATVILLE [MBANDAKA], APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - The name derives from Coquilhat, the name of the founder of the city of C. (Belgian Congo), currently the main center, which has about 25,000 inhabitants, of whom several hundred are Europeans. It is situated on the equator.

The territory of the vicariate has an area of 185,775 sq. km., is swampy and wooded, traversed lengthwise by the Tshuapa River, which has a network of tributaries and constitutes a good means of communication. The inhabitants, in 1948, number about 424,000 of the Bantu race Nbando-Nlango, who practice agriculture, Elinga, scattered along the rivers and devoted to fishing, Batava, pygmies, numbering about 50,000, who live by hunting, have the idea of a single God called Njakomba or Mbombianha, but offer sacrifices to the spirits (elima) and to the souls of the dead (bahali). The evangelization of the territory was undertaken in 1894 by the Belgian Trappists. On Feb. 11, 1924, the upper part of it was erected into an apostolic prefecture under the name of Tshuapa and entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of the Belgian province. To save the work accomplished by the Trappists, who were supposed to return to their homeland by order of their superiors, they were given permission to transfer to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and their territory was added to that of the prefecture of Tshuapa, which, on January 28, 1926, had its name changed to that of C. On Apr. 27, 1927, it underwent a boundary adjustment with the apostolic vicariate of Léopoldville; on January 3, 1931, the mission sui iuris of Bikoro, now an apostolic prefecture, was partly detached from it; then, after a boundary adjustment of March 1, 1931, with the apostolic prefecture of Basankusu, now an apostolic vicariate, on March 22, 1932, it was elevated to an apostolic vicariate. In 1948 there were 79,155 Catholics, 2,765 catechumens; 58,000 Protestants; 76 Muslims; about 280,000 pagans; 1 native priest, 52 foreign missionary priests, 16 lay brothers and 5 natives; 21 seminarians; 97 nuns, of whom 1 is native; 376 catechists, 231 male teachers, 7 female teachers, 1 doctor; 6 principal mission stations, 350 secondary; 32 churches, 226 chapels; 12 hospitals, with 550 beds; 15 dispensaries; 5 leprosariums with 1,622 inmates; 140 elementary schools with 8,800 pupils, 14 secondary schools with 332 pupils. There are numerous associations of Catholic Action and a printing press, which prints two periodicals, one of 1,150 and the other of 475 copies.

Carlo Corvo