Having been ordained priest in 1834, he successfully devoted himself to teaching the physical and mathematical sciences, including astronomy, while at the same time holding important conventual positions, until he became theologian of the Casanatense Library. Only in 1862 was he finally able to dedicate himself entirely to his preferred studies.
The publication of *Le missioni domenicane nel Tonchino* (Rome 1844) provoked fierce criticism for its poor Italian style; consequently, G. decided, in addition to his scientific teaching and experiments on the behavior of electric currents carried out during the installation of lightning rods on the Torre delle Milizie, to thoroughly renew his training and his philological and historical knowledge until he became a refined writer. In 1863 he visited the entire Levant, Jerusalem, Egypt, and Malta; in 1868 he went to Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Cologne, Belgium, Paris, and London, gathering vast and valuable materials and making acute and fundamental observations.
The fruit of so many studies was an unusually valuable output. First came an essay that, although favorably received, did not satisfy the author and was withdrawn: *Storia della marina militare pontificia dal sec. VIII al XIX* (Rome 1856); the work was later partially republished with additions and corrections under the title *Storia della marina pontificia nel medioevo, dal 728 al 1499* (Florence 1871). This was followed by *Marcantonio Colonna alla battaglia di Lepanto* (ibid. 1872), a true masterpiece that went through no fewer than eleven editions, *La guerra dei pirati ecc.* (Florence 1876), *Storia delle fortificazioni nella spiaggia romana* (Rome 1880), *La squadra permanente della marina romana* (Rome-Voghera 1882), *La squadra ausiliaria a Candia ed alla Morea* (ibid. 1883), closing in 1884 with *Gli ultimi fatti della squadra romana dell'Egitto a*
rapids and waterfalls. Inland, still little known, as rainfall decreases, the forest gives way to savanna.
The sparse population (altogether, perhaps one million inhabitants, averaging 1 per sq. km) consists predominantly of blacks and Asians (Indians, Malays, Chinese), brought there for plantation work (sugar cane, coffee, cocoa, coconut palm). Forest resources, though exploited, remain substantially intact, as do mineral resources, among which only gold, diamonds, and bauxite have been exploited to date. Livestock farming has great potential but is still in its infancy.
Excluding the northwestern and southern zones, which fall within the borders of Venezuela and Brazil (more than half the total), G. is divided among Great Britain, the Netherlands, and France, which hold the only South American territories dependent on European powers.
The British G. is the northernmost, between the Orinoco and Corentyne rivers, the largest (231,774 sq. km), most populous (381,000 inhabitants), and most economically developed. Plantations and mining permit a considerable export of bauxite, gold, rice, rum, diamonds, etc. Livestock farming (cattle) is also flourishing. The capital is Georgetown (78,000 inhabitants).
Dutch G., or Suriname, between the Corentyne and Maroni rivers (156,000 sq. km with 208,000 inhabitants, one-third of them indigenous) has been a member of the Dutch Union since 1948. The plantations, once flourishing, declined with the abolition of slavery; recently, a certain economic recovery has occurred in mining (bauxite extraction). The capital is Paramaribo (73,000 inhabitants).
French G., between the Maroni and Oyapock rivers, is the smallest (91,000 sq. km), least populous (37,000 inhabitants), without indigenous people, and the most economically backward. Plantations, forestry, and mining (gold) are in decline. Since 1947 it has been transformed into a French department. The capital, Cayenne (12,000 inhabitants), was sadly famous for its penal colony, now abolished.
I. THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF BRITISH G. Immediately after the discovery of G., the Portuguese began its evangelization, whose fruits were lost with the Dutch conquest (1667). The first Catholic mission was established in 1817, with the arrival of a Dominican from Martinique. In 1837 the Prefecture Apostolic of British G., separating its territory from the Apostolic Vicariate of the English, Danish, and Dutch islands, to which Barbados Island was united on 20 March 1850. In 1847 the Ursulines arrived, followed in subsequent years by others. On 6 Aug. 1856 the Apostolic Vicariate was entrusted to the Jesuits, who founded new churches and schools, and also hospitals. In 1943 Catholic Action was established under the title of *Star of the Spirit*. It has an area of 216,926 sq. km and the entire territory is an English colony. The population is 375,819 inhabitants, mostly Indians and Africans. The aborigines are very few. Almost all speak English. There are about 48,474 Catholics. Of the Indians, nearly 85% are Hindus and 15% Muslims. The rest of the population is Protestant, divided into various sects. The island of Barbados has 192,991 inhabitants, with only 2,500 Catholics and the rest all Protestants. Statistics from 1949 give the following data: Catholics 52,500, catechumens 700, indigenous priests 4, foreign priests 31, indigenous nuns 42, foreign nuns 45, catechists 67, major seminarians 1.
II. THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF FRENCH G. G. was occupied by the French in 1604. Ship chaplains and a few passing priests initially attended to religious assistance. In 1651 the Apostolic Prefecture of the islands and mainland territories in America subject to the King of France was erected and entrusted to the Jesuits. Soon the Fathers settled in Cayenne, and in 1731 they obtained that G., detached from the other aforementioned territories, be erected into an Apostolic Prefecture.
After the Jesuits were expelled from French territories (1762), they managed to remain in Cayenne along with a secular priest sent by the French court and appointed parish priest for all of G.; until in 1775 the Prefecture was entrusted to the priests of the Seminary of the Holy Spirit, founded in Paris by Abbé Poulard des Places. When these were also dispersed by the Revolution, the Apostolic Prefecture of G. could function regularly only after 1817, i.e., after the restoration of the aforementioned Seminary. Even when the Society of the Holy Spirit became a religious congregation, the Fathers continued their mission in G. Expelled from the colony in 1893, they had to cede the Apostolic Prefecture to secular clergy, regaining it only in 1925. The Vicariate was erected on 10 Jan. 1933. The mission covers an area of 116,000 sq. km, with a total population of 42,700 inhabitants, of whom 36,000 are Catholic, 200 Protestant, 1,500 Muslim, and 5,000 pagan.
The clergy consists of 7 secular priests and 15 Fathers of the Holy Spirit. There are also 2 lay brothers and 73 nuns. There are 16 parishes, 6 churches, 32 chapels; there is 1 hospital, 4 orphanages, 1 leper colony, 4 elementary schools and 1 middle school. In addition, various confraternities and lay associations. The customs of the people leave much to be desired.
### III. THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF DUTCH GUIANA
— The territory is under Dutch rule, which after various vicissitudes definitively took possession of it in 1816. Previously, the French had occupied the mouths of the Suriname River in 1640, followed by the English and the Dutch. Portuguese missionaries had begun the evangelization there, but the greed of the new colonizers and their Protestant fanaticism destroyed every trace of II. Only in 1775 were Catholics permitted to resume evangelization, and Propaganda sent two secular priests, who were unsuccessful. After 17 years, another secular priest and a Franciscan went there but failed to initiate true missionary work.
The true founders of the mission were the priests Wennikers and Van der Horst, sent by the archpriest of Haarlem (1817), who first among the old Catholics and then among the pagans gathered good fruits. One of these priests was granted the faculties of an apostolic prefect, which were later extended to the entire coast of South America from Suriname to Brazil for places not subject to another ordinary, and to the Island of Curaçao. From 1825 to 1865, the history records the names of another 18 priests, all sent from Holland, who worked amid every kind of difficulty and opposition from Protestants.
The apostolic vicariate of Dutch Guiana was erected on 12 September 1842 through the elevation of the apostolic prefecture, which dated from 22 November 1817. In 1865, the Dutch Redemptorists arrived and found 12,000 Catholics. They immediately set to systematic work among the various ethnic groups, establishing schools and charitable works (the Venerable Father Donders dedicated himself to the apostolate among lepers). The number of Catholics at present reaches 34,000, and there are 132 catechumens over an area of 142,822 square kilometers. There are 43 priests with 50 brothers and 182 sisters, of whom 25 are indigenous. There are 44 catechists, 48,685 Protestants, 910 Jews, 55,534 Muslims, 33,764 Hindus, 16,411 Confucianists, and 23,210 pagans. There are 10 districts, almost 5 parishes, 9 primary stations, 10 secondary stations, 64 sacred buildings, 1 hospital with 80 beds, 8 dispensaries, 2 orphanages with 52 children, 2 asylums for the elderly and 1 for lepers; 22 elementary schools with 732 pupils, 33 middle schools with 8,159 pupils, 4 high schools with 3,170 pupils, 12 vocational schools with 319 pupils, and 27 teacher-training schools with 2,087 pupils.