Guam

GUAM. - The southernmost and largest (534 sq. km.) of the Mariana Islands, ceded in 1898 by Spain to the United States, which in 1922 undertook not to fortify it, given the threat it could have posed to Japan (2,400 km. as the crow flies).

The population of the island (60,000 inhabitants in 1947, of whom 24,000 are indigenous Chamorros) devotes itself to tropical crops (bananas, citrus fruits, sugar cane) and to that of maize, which are being increasingly extended; livestock raising is also of considerable importance. The capital Agaña (10,000 inhabitants) suffered greatly from the events of the recent war (the island was occupied by the Japanese in Dec. 1941 and retaken by the Americans in Aug. 1944). There is a large naval base in the port of Apra, over which the governor presides, who is at the same time naval commander of the western sector of the Pacific. G. is linked by direct air connections with the United States (42 hours), the Philippines and Japan. For the map of the ecclesiastical circumscriptions v. OCEANIA.

Giuseppe Caraci

APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of G

It comprises all the Mariana or Ladrone Islands. The first missionary to land in this archipelago was the Jesuit Diego Sanvitores, killed by the natives in 1672.

The evangelization work of the Jesuit missionaries continued, not without difficulties, until 1767, the time when the Recollects of St. Augustine took over. These remained there until 1 Oct. 1906, the date of the erection of the apostolic prefecture of the Mariana Islands, entrusted to the Capuchins of the Rhenish-Westphalian province. On 1 March 1911, with the union of the Mariana Islands and the Carolines, the vicariate of the Mariana and Caroline Islands was constituted, which later became the vicariate of the Mariana, Caroline and Marshall Islands. At the same time the island of G. was detached from the Marianas and erected into a distinct vicariate. In 1915 the mission was entrusted to the Capuchins of the province of Navarre-Cantabria-Aragon, later assisted by about ten American Capuchins of the province of St. Joseph. In 1942 all the missionaries, American and Spanish, were deported to Japan. There remained in G., during the war period, only two indigenous priests. Finally, on 4 July 1946, the archipelago of the Mariana Islands was detached from the vicariate of the Mariana, Caroline and Marshall Islands and incorporated into that of G. The number of Catholics is 52,597; 1 indigenous priest; 18 foreign priests; 8 foreign nuns; 233 teachers; 23 vocational schools, with 1,772 male pupils and 1,204 female pupils. A periodical is printed under the title Holy Cross, with a circulation of 500 copies. The residence of the Ordinary is in the city of Agaña, capital of G.

Edoardo Pecorano