INDORE, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. - Ecclesiastical circumscription of central-southern India erected on 11 March 1935 with territory detached from the dioceses of Ajmer, Allahabad and Nagpur. It is entrusted to the Missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word and is a suffragan of Agra. It borders to the east with the apostolic prefecture of Jubbulpore, to the south with the dioceses of Nagpur and Poona, to the west with the archdiocese of Bombay and the diocese of Ajmer, and with the latter also to the north.
It measures 110,000 sq km in area, and has a population of about 6 and a half million inhabitants, divided as follows: 4,500,000 Hindus, 2,000,000 Muslims, 9,400 Protestants and about 17,000 Catholics.
The missionary personnel, according to the latest statistics (1950), is made up of about thirty fathers and about ten brothers of the Society of the Divine Word, all foreigners, and of 2 Indian secular priests, of about seventy sisters, of whom 30 belong to the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Mary of the Angels, 17 to that of the Servants of the Holy Spirit (of Steyl), and 14 to two Congregations of native sisters.
The prefecture is divided into 4 districts: I., Jhabua, Khandwa, Itarsi. There are 5 parishes, 15 primary stations, 245 secondary stations with a chapel, 16 dispensaries.
Instruction and education are provided in 51 elementary schools attended by 700 pupils, 3 middle schools with 430 pupils and 3 higher schools with almost 1,700 students. The mission possesses 4 hospitals with 58 beds; in two public hospitals the sick are assisted by Catholic sisters. There are furthermore 3 orphanages with about a hundred boys and girls. The male teachers number about 60, the female teachers 40. 58 catechists and 5 female catechists prepare the ground for the missionary's work. A minor seminary has recently been erected, which already has 20 seminarians. Some young clerics pursue their studies of philosophy and theology at the major Seminary of Bombay. The prefecture also has a printing press and some confraternities and pious associations.
Bibliography4 works
Pompeo Borgna