MAKASSAR, Apostolic Vicariate of
In the southern part of the island of Celebes (Indonesia), it was erected as an apostolic prefecture on 13 April 1937 by separation from the Apostolic Vicariate of Celebes (now the Apostolic Vicariate of Manado), and elevated to an apostolic vicariate on 13 May 1948.
In the 16th century, Fr. Vincenzo Viegas was the first to reach M., coming from Goa, where he remained from 1545 to 1548. Much later, in 1615, the Jesuits arrived. They were followed by the Franciscans in 1620 and the Dominicans in 1649. However, their evangelical work was hindered, even halted, by the Dutch Protestants, who forced the Catholic missionaries to abandon the field. The year 1853 marked the resumption of evangelization when indigenous soldiers, who had embraced the Catholic faith on the island of Java, upon returning to Celebes, obtained permission from the government to receive a visit from a priest of the Society of Jesus. Subsequently, the Jesuits, not without many difficulties, reaped abundant fruits of conversions and in 1885 established their residence in Manado and in 1893 in M. Later, the missionaries of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scheut) took over, to whom the mission of M. is currently entrusted.
The city of M., a port on the island of Celebes, has become the capital of the new State of Eastern Indonesia, formed by Celebes, Bali, Lombok, and the islands to the east, the Moluccas, and the islands to the south, with a population of 10,000,000 inhabitants belonging to 50 different races and speaking about forty different languages.
It now has an area of 98,939 sq. km. with 3,600,000 inhabitants, of whom 7,817 are Catholics, served by 28 priests of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with 39 stations, assisted by a male religious community and four female ones. It has 35 schools and 8 charitable and welfare institutions.