MANDALAY, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — Like the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Burma (Rangoon), the Apostolic Vicariate of M., erected on 19 July 1870 for Northern Burma, derives from the division of the Apostolic Vicariate of Ava and Pegu, and received its present name on 5 January 1939.
The entire territory is traversed from north to south by the Irrawaddy River and consists of a largely flat area along the Irrawaddy and a mountainous, sparsely inhabited region toward the Indian frontier.
The mission, entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society, covers an area of 200,000 sq. km. with a population of 5,000,000, of whom 4,300,000 are Buddhists, 270,000 animists, 100,000 Hindus, 80,000 Muslims, 10,000 Protestants, 10,000 Christians, and 15,000 Catholics. It comprises 22 quasi-parishes, 29 primary stations, and 90 secondary stations, with 8 churches and 70 chapels, served by 21 indigenous priests, 17 from the Paris Foreign Missions Society, and 6 Salesians, assisted by 8 brothers and about a hundred Sisters. There is a minor seminary, 32 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, 6 high schools, and 4 vocational schools. The mission also runs various charitable and welfare works, including a leper colony, as well as 7 confraternities, and Catholic Action associations are not lacking. While conversion among Buddhists is very difficult, there are good prospects among animists.