HIROSHIMA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE. — In Japan, on the island of Hon-Shū. It was erected by an apostolic brief of 2 May 1923 and entrusted to the fathers of the Society of Jesus, of German-speaking origin. At the time of its establishment, the eight stations of which it consisted were staffed by missionaries of the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris, who had been carrying out their ministry there for more than forty years.
The first evangelical seed in this mission was sown by St. Francis Xavier himself (v.), who for a time made his residence in the city of H., laying there the foundations of missionary activity, inherited for many years by other fathers of the same Society of Jesus. During the persecution of the seventeenth century, many of the faithful in the region of H., as in Nagasaki, shed their blood for the Catholic faith; among them stands out St. Giacomo Kizaemon, a Japanese. The vicariate of H. suffered extremely serious damage as a result of the recent war. But it now shows clear signs of sound and steady progress. The mentality of the people, which before the war was marked by rigid conservatism, now appears greatly changed, and in a direction favorable to the work of the missionaries. The number of the baptized and catechumens has increased. Whereas before the war there were 80 or 90 baptisms in a year, recently the number has reached 700. The reconstruction of the churches and charitable institutions is proceeding rapidly. The vicariate of H. comprises five civil prefectures: Yamaguchi, H., Okoyama, Shimane, Tottori, with a total area of 31,672 sq. km. The number of Catholics is 3:16, with 927 catechumens; there are 26 priests, 6 coadjutor brothers, 4 indigenous seminarians, 46 indigenous and foreign sisters, 3 orphanages with 165 children, 1 school of music with 280 students, 1 higher school with 420 girls, a middle school with 667 girls, and 1 vocational school with 59 female students. There is also a cultural institute intended to spread Christian ideas among the educated classes.