IQUITOS, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. — Situated in the north-eastern region of Peru, it comprises the territory of the civil province of Alto y Bajo Amazonas, consisting of a great plain traversed by the river of the same name and covered with countless lakes, which make it marshy. The evangelization of this area began at the end of the nineteenth century.
In 1896, the Ordinaries of Peru, responding to an appeal by Pope Leo XIII, who had called for the conversion of the savages, founded in Lima an organization for the propagation of the faith in the north-eastern regions of that nation, presided over by Fr. Soto of the Picpus Missionaries. He prepared the agreement between Peru and the Holy See (1 May 1899) concerning the missions to be established in S. Leone of the Amazons, Ucayali, Urubamba, and Madre de Dios (present-day Puerto Maldonado). The prefecture of S. Leone of the Amazons was erected on 5 February 1900 and entrusted to the Augustinian Hermits, who arrived there in March 1901 and immediately began fruitful apostolic work; but, given the extent of the territory, they were unable to evangelize it adequately. In 1912, the north-eastern part, which had never been evangelized, was detached from the prefecture, and the autonomous mission of Putumayo was erected and entrusted to the English Franciscans, who, overcome by the practical difficulties they encountered, abandoned it; consequently, it was again incorporated (1922) into the prefecture of S. Leone of the Amazons, which had been erected as an apostolic vicariate the previous year. In 1945, the aforementioned mission was restored, more or less within the same boundaries, but under the name of S. Joseph of the Amazons, and was entrusted to the Canadian Franciscans. In the same year, the apostolic vicariate of S. Leone was given the name I., after the city where the Ordinary resided. According to the statistics of 1949, the inhabitants of this vicariate number approximately 60,000, the majority of whom are baptized. They are assisted by 15 Augustinian priests, 24 nuns, 100 catechists, and 254 teachers. Apostolic work is made difficult by the unhealthy climate and the lack of means of communication. The populations are naturally good, but terrible diseases make them lax in fulfilling their duties as Catholics: marsh fevers, pernicious and tertian fevers, tuberculosis, and beri-beri.