KONTUM, VICARIATE APOSTOLIC OF. - In Indochina, erected on 18 January 1932 by division of the vicariate of Quinhon.
It is made up of the provinces of Attopeu, Banmèthuòt, K., and the mountainous and barbarian part of Quangnam. It has an area of about 70,000 km², with a total population of 725,000 barbarians, Annamites and Laotians, of whom 24,916 are Catholics, divided as follows: 20,348 uncivilized, 4,330 Annamites and 238 Europeans. Protestants have about 300 adherents in the province of Banmèthuòt. The pagan Annamites practice ancestor worship or observe Buddhism, but they are few. The uncivilized pagans venerate their genies. There are many tribes, once in continuous strife among themselves, which now live in peace. Each tribe has its own language. The uncivilized have neither temples nor dogmas: they have the cult of the rice goddess (the Sori). In every village there are sorcerers called "bojan" who take the place of doctors and take part in judgments. The "bojan" is regarded by the priests as the number one enemy of religion, because he deceives the people.
As regards the origin of the mission of K., in 1830 the apostolic vicar of eastern Cochinchina, Domenico Stefano Cuenot, later declared blessed by the Church (1909), sent the Annamite deacon Do to explore the region of the barbarians, in order to find a suitable place to establish the seminary of the mission there, because of the religious persecution in the Annamite kingdom. Given the happy result of that exploration, Fathers Combes and Desgouts and others were sent into the region.
In 1890 the new mission of K. had 1,880 baptized; in 1900, 10,120; and in 1933, 21,780. It is entrusted to the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. There are 24 districts and 188 Christian communities. Priests 36, of whom 19 are French, 15 Annamite and 2 Bahnar; 166 catechists; 21 religious women; 13 primary schools; 23 orphanages; a foundling hospital; a leper colony; a printing press from which two newspapers are published: Echos de la mission and Hlabar tobang.
Major seminarians 13, minor 14. The Gospel is preached freely and the pagans are well disposed toward the Catholic religion.