GUAM. — The southernmost and largest (534 sq. km.) of the Mariana Islands, ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898, which in 1922 undertook not to fortify it, given the threat it might have represented for Japan (2,400 km. as the crow flies).
The island’s population (60,000 inhabitants in 1947, of whom 24,000 were indigenous Chamorros) is engaged in tropical crops (bananas, citrus fruits, sugar cane) and in the cultivation of maize, which are continually expanding; livestock breeding is also of some 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, overseen by the governor, who is at the same time naval commander of the western Pacific sector. G. is connected by direct air services with the United States (42 hours), the Philippines, and Japan. For the map of the ecclesiastical circumscriptions V. OCEANIA.
APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of G. — It comprises all the Mariana, or Ladrones, Islands. The first missionary to land in this archipelago was the Jesuit Diego Sanvitores, who was killed by the natives in 1672.
The evangelizing work of the Jesuit missionaries continued, not without difficulties, until 1767, when they were succeeded by the Recollects of St. Augustine. The latter remained there until 1 Oct. 1906, when the Apostolic Prefecture of the Mariana Islands was erected and entrusted to the Capuchins of the Rhenish-Westphalian province. On 1 March 1911, with the union of the Mariana and Caroline Islands, the Vicariate of the Mariana and Caroline Islands was established, subsequently becoming 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 separate vicariate. In 1915 the mission was entrusted to the Capuchins of the Navarre-Cantabria-Aragon province, 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. During the war, only two indigenous priests remained in G. Finally, on 4 July 1946, the Mariana archipelago 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 and 1,204 female pupils. A periodical entitled Holy Cross is published, with a circulation of 500 copies. The residence of the Ordinary is in the city of Agaña, capital of G.