FREETOWN and BO, DIOCESES OF. — Dioceses of British West Africa, comprising the territory of the Colony of Sierra Leone on the Atlantic coast, between French Guinea and Liberia. On 13 Apr. 1858 the Sacred Congregation of 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 the founder of this society, Bp. de Brasilac, and the three missionaries who had accompanied him there, died 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 part of it was detached to form the Apostolic Prefecture of French Guinea (now the Apostolic Vicariate of Conakry and Apostolic Prefecture of Conakry and Apostolic Prefecture of Conakry and Apostolic Prefecture of Conakry and Apostolic Prefecture of Conakry and Apostolic Prefecture