KISANTU, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE. - Situated in the south-western part of the Belgian Congo and entrusted to the Society of Jesus, it was erected on 1 Apr. 1931 from territory detached from the apostolic vicariate of Koango. Area approximately 90,000 sq. km.
According to the statistics of 1948, the population exceeds 443,000 inhabitants, distributed as follows: indigenous Catholics 165,968, foreign Catholics 182, catechumens 15,252, Protestants approximately 27,000, pagans more than 235,000. The vicariate further has: 27 indigenous priests, 43 Jesuit Fathers with 10 scholastics, 19 indigenous brothers with 2 novices, 28 indigenous brothers, of whom 15 are Jesuits and 13 belong to the Congregation of Our Lady of Ostaker (Belgium), 7 indigenous sisters with 9 novices, 85 foreign sisters, 1 major seminary with 40 pupils, a minor one with 136 pupils, 1,803 catechists, 480 male teachers and 64 female teachers, 25 qualified nurses, 16 principal and 155 secondary mission stations, 142 churches and 580 chapels, 10 hospitals with 360 beds, 22 dispensaries with 234,624 consultations during the year, 5 orphanages with 20 pupils, 8 maternity homes with 13,136 consultations and 731 births during the year, 1 printing press issuing a periodical in 3,500 copies, and 1,322 schools with 36,369 pupils of both sexes. There are flourishing associations of Catholic Action. Two mission stations have already officially been entrusted to the indigenous clergy, and a third provisionally.