Freetown and Bo

FREETOWN and BO. DIOCESE. - Diocese of British West Africa, comprising the territory of the Colony of Sierra Leone on the Atlantic coast, between French Guinea and Liberia. On 13 April 1858 the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, detaching the Colony of Sierra Leone with the adjacent territories from the then apostolic vicariate of the Two Guineas, erected the apostolic vicariate of Sierra Leone and entrusted it to the Society of African Missions; but its founder, Msgr. de Brésillac, and three of his missionaries who had accompanied him there, died there of yellow fever.

In 1860 they were replaced by the Fathers of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, who, overcoming great difficulties, were able to establish themselves. In 1897 the apostolic prefecture of French Guinea (today the apostolic vicariate of Konakry and the apostolic prefecture of Kankan) was in part detached from it, and in 1903 that of Liberia (today the apostolic vicariate of Monrovia and the apostolic prefecture of Cape Palmas). On 18 April 1930, on the occasion of the erection of the episcopal hierarchy in British West Africa, the apostolic vicariate of Sierra Leone was elevated to a residential diocese immediately subject to the Holy See under the name of F. and B., from the name of the center where the Ordinary resides (F.) and of the neighboring political and commercial center (B.) of the whole territory. The statistics for 1949 present the following data: area 80,000 sq. km.; pop. 2,250,000; Catholics 10,105, of whom 9,492 natives, 431 foreigners, 182 of mixed race; catechumens 9,862, Eastern dissidents 311; Protestants 55,000; Mohammedans 126,000; pagans 2,000,599; missionary priests: 31 of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit and 4 of the Pious Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions of Parma; brothers 2 of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit; foreign sisters 26; catechists 94, women catechists 3; masters 96, mistresses 60. Principal stations 12, secondary 25; dispensaries 3 with 21,000 consultations in the course of the year. Schools 40 with 5,638 pupils of both sexes; prayer schools 112 with 1,768 pupils of both sexes; Baptisms of adults 204, of children 239; Easter Communions 3,840; Communions of devotion 124,000. There is Catholic Action (Legion of Mary).

Carlo Corvo