KHACIATUR ARAKELEAN. — One of the most illustrious figures among the Armenian students of the Urban College of Propaganda. Born in 1666 at Erzerum (Karin) and ordained a priest in 1690, he went to Constantinople, where he gained great fame as a preacher and zealous missionary. In 1699 he successfully completed the papal mission to Etchmiadzin, in the presence of the Armenian patriarch Nahapet, bearing the brief *Graves, etsi non inconsuetos* (1698) of Innocent XII. Upon his return to Constantinople, he served as vicar to the patriarch until the persecution instigated by the schismatics Ephrem and Avetik, who had intruded themselves as patriarchs. He went into hiding and in 1707 fled to Venice, where the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda entrusted him with the care of the Armenians. He remained there until his death on 30 April 1740.
In 1719 K. was apostolic visitor to the Armenians of Transylvania. He combined pastoral care with teaching and sacred study. He trained several missionaries, published various manuals on Armenian grammar, philosophy, theology, and preaching. Though he did not dare to accept the invitation of the young Mekhitar (v. under his name) to become the head of his recent foundation, he later became its most enthusiastic defender and promoter.
KHAITUM (Arabic Hartum), apostolic vicariate of. — Comprises the entire central and northern part of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Its evangelization was conceived by Msgr. A. Casolani of Malta and initiated by the Jesuit Fr. M. Ryllo. Initially, missionaries were secular priests and members of the Mazza Institute of Verona, among whom were Frs. A. Vinco and D. Comboni.
The apostolic vicariate, erected on 3 April 1846 under the name of the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Africa, originally encompassed the vast territory (2,610,000 sq. km) bounded to the north by Egypt, Tripolitania, Tunisia, and Algeria; to the west by Senegambia and the two Guineas; to the south by the "Mountains of the Moon"; and to the east by Ethiopia. Among the missionaries there were heavy losses, and the survivors withdrew, so that on 12 September 1861 the vicariate was entrusted to the Friars Minor of the Story; but as they too soon had to withdraw in 1868, it was temporarily placed under the Apostolic Vicariate of Egypt until 11 June 1872, when it was ceded to the Institute of Foreign Missions of Verona (Sons of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), excluding the prefecture of the Sahara and Sudan (now, in part, the Apostolic Vicariate of Bamako). Its first apostolic vicar was Msgr. Daniele Comboni. In 1883, due to the Mahdist revolt (v.), the mission stations were destroyed and many missionaries died, but once the scourge had passed, the Sons of the Sacred Heart returned to their former positions, and from 1900 evangelization has made steady progress, especially in the south. The vicariate subsequently underwent numerous territorial reductions from 1894 to 1937 with the erection of new ecclesiastical circumscriptions, until, by the *motu proprio Sancta Dei Ecclesia* of 25 March 1938, which placed all of Egypt under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Church, the area of Aswan also passed by right under the said Congregation, although, due to a combination of circumstances, this arrangement has only recently been implemented. Despite this, the Apostolic Vicariate of K. remains vast (over 2,000,000 sq. km). In 1948 it counted, out of approximately 4,500,000 inhabitants, 3,200 Catholics, 15 catechumens, 1 indigenous priest and 35 foreign priests, 16 foreign lay brothers, 3 indigenous sisters, 99 foreign sisters, 3 catechists, and 62 teachers.