HARAR, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE. — It is situated in eastern Ethiopia, on the borders of French, British, and Italian Somaliland. Erected on 4 May 1846 under the name of Vicariatus apostolicus Africae ad populos Galla, it had a great apostle who worked there from that year until 1880, Massaia.
On 15 January 1894, the boundaries of the Vicariate of the Galla were fixed with the Vicariate of Khartoum (then the Vicariate of Central Africa); on 28 January 1913, the Apostolic Prefecture of Kaffa was detached from it; on 8 September 1913, its boundaries with that prefecture were modified, and likewise on 20 February 1925 and 10 March 1926. On 13 February 1925, the part of Abyssinian Somaliland was ceded to the Apostolic Prefecture of Djibouti. On 25 March 1937, as part of the reorganization of all the missions of Ethiopia, it received its present designation of H. It has an area of 202,000 sq. km and, at the time of its erection, had a population of approximately 2,000,000 inhabitants, including 1,000,000 Muslims, 300,000 Coptic-rite dissidents, and 200,000 pagans. Under the administration of the Capuchins it made great progress. But the war, which forced the Italian missionaries to leave, halted the development of the vicariate, whose new and imposing episcopal residence and Seminary buildings were also confiscated. If not everything was lost, this was due to the providential existence of a certain number of good indigenous priests of the Latin rite. In 1948 the vicariate numbered 1,200,000 non-Christians (pagans and Muslims), 300,000 Coptic-rite dissidents, 7,583 Catholics of the Latin rite with 51 catechumens, 13 indigenous priests, one foreign missionary priest and one foreign lay brother, four foreign nuns and 16 indigenous ones, 12 principal stations, 56 adult baptisms and 323 child baptisms administered during the year, 12 dispensaries with 55,000
patients treated, several orphanages with numerous residents, 15 primary schools with 834 pupils of both sexes, 12 churches, and 12 chapels. Catholic Action is also present (17 centers with 308 members).