MOROCCO. -
I. GEOGRAPHY
Morocco occupies the north-western extremity of the African continent, between the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Sahara. It is the only country in the Maghreb to enjoy the benefit of a double maritime frontier, although the Atlantic coast is almost entirely controlled by France, while the Mediterranean coast lies entirely within the borders of Spanish Morocco.Under the reorganization of Diocletian, Mauretania Tingitana was transferred around 297 to the jurisdiction of Spanish Baetica. The spread of Christianity was slow, hindered by the difficulties posed by the indigenous populations and the changing fortunes of history. When the Vandals, under King Gaiseric, conquered Mauretania in 429, they introduced Arianism there.
Vandal rule lasted for almost a century, until in 533 Belisarius subdued Mauretania to the Byzantine Empire. Less than a hundred years later, present-day Morocco changed hands again. The Visigoths of Spain, taking advantage of Byzantium’s struggles with the Persians, occupied Mauretania and remained there until the Arab invasion. The Muslims firmly established themselves there by the end of the seventh century and, having crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, proceeded to conquer Spain. The Catholic Monarchs’ Reconquista, completed in 1492 with the capture of Granada and the expulsion of the infidels from the Iberian Peninsula, aimed also to secure outposts across the strait that would protect Spain and Portugal from any immediate Arab counteroffensive. This resulted in the occupation of Ceuta and Melilla, strongholds that have remained in Spanish hands despite repeated Muslim sieges. Through various treaties concluded in the eighteenth century, Spain secured recognition from the Sherifian Empire of its possession of these strongholds and obtained commercial advantages. In the same century, France also gained special commercial rights, while England, having occupied Gibraltar in 1704, took a particular interest in Moroccan affairs, strengthening commercial relations with the Sherifian Empire and keeping watch for any attempts by others to assert sovereignty over parts of Moroccan territory. Morocco thus gradually became the object of special attention from European chancelleries and assumed international importance, especially after France’s conquest of Algeria. While France sought to extend into Morocco the expansion it had begun in Algeria, the interests of Spain, England, Germany and other powers were also at stake. Bilateral agreements between Britain and France and between France and Spain in 1904 defined the spheres of influence of Paris and Madrid in Morocco. The International Conference of Algeciras (1906), while upholding the sovereignty and independence of the Sultan, the integrity of the Sherifian Empire and economic freedom, granted all signatory powers equal economic and commercial rights in Morocco, without compromising the interests and rights of individual states as established by treaties and agreements. On 30 March 1912, France, by signing a convention with the Sultan, established its protectorate over Morocco. A subsequent Franco-Spanish agreement on 27 November of the same year delimited the sphere of influence of Madrid. Today, Morocco is politically divided into four parts: 1) a French-administered protectorate zone; 2) a Spanish-administered protectorate zone; 3) the neutralized and international zone of Tangier; 4) Spain’s direct possessions: the so-called Presides (Melilla, the Alhucemas Islands, Vélez de la Gomera, Ceuta, the Chafarinas Islands) and Ifni.
III. EVANGELIZATION
In Roman and Byzantine times, thriving Christian communities with numerous episcopal sees existed throughout North Africa, including Morocco. The Arabs succeeded in completely destroying Christianity in these regions. From the ninth century onwards, no further mention is made of dioceses in Morocco. In 1137, a bishop named Miguel, son of ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, is recorded among the Mozarabic Christians exiled from Granada in the twelfth century and settled near Fez and Meknes. It may be assumed that they were gradually exterminated. However, in 1225 a Dominican friar, Brother Domenico, was consecrated Bishop of Baeza (in still-Islamic Spain) with a mission to Morocco, and, presumably in 1226 or 1227, a Franciscan, Angelo, was ordained for Morocco or Fez. St Francis of Assisi sent the first missionaries to preach the Gospel to the Saracens in 1219. They suffered martyrdom on 16 January 1220 in Marrakech and became the protomartyrs of the Franciscan Order: Berard, Peter, Otto, Accursius and Adjutus.In 1225, the Pope sent Dominicans and Franciscans to Morocco, and thus the official reorganization of the Moroccan Church began. Their activity was limited to Christians: soldiers in the service of the Sultan, merchants, slaves. Immediate evangelization of Muslims was impossible; those who dared to undertake it paid for their zeal with their lives, such as the seven Franciscans martyred in Ceuta in 1227. The see of Fez or Morocco was transferred to Marrakech in 1237. In the following centuries, Franciscans and Dominicans succeeded one another as bishops, but very often they did not reside in the country and remained in Spain. Until the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Franciscans exercised their ministry among Christians with relative freedom. For the subsequent period, there is no documentary evidence of the continuity of Franciscan and Dominican work. It may be presumed that the wars between the Spaniards and Portuguese and Morocco, as well as internal conflicts among the various dynasties, made missionary work impossible. For the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, there are records of the redemption of captives by the Trinitarians and Mercedarians, some of whom suffered martyrdom. After the capture of Ceuta in 1415 and Tangier in 1471, both cities were elevated to episcopal sees; in 1570 the two dioceses were united. However, this had no impact on missionary work within the Moroccan kingdom. Sporadically, missionaries were to be found there: Franciscans, among whom Andrew of Spoleto was martyred in 1532; Jesuits from 1548 to 1553 and again in 1576 in Tetuan; Capuchins from 1624 to 1635, and other imprisoned priests ministered to the faithful.
With the appointment in 1630 of the Franciscan Juan de Prado as Apostolic Prefect, the Franciscan mission was re-established. Although he had been martyred in 1631, the Franciscans were later able to found a permanent convent in Meknes and hospices in Fez, Sale, Marrakech and Tetuan, until a new expulsion in 1790. In Tangier alone, only a single Franciscan was able to remain at the end. In 1859 the Apostolic Prefect Sabaté renewed the mission. Special credit is due to Fr. José Lerchundi, Apostolic Prefect from 1877 to 1896, for organizing the mission by founding stations, schools, hospices and inviting sisters to educate young women. Even in this period the Franciscans’ activity had to be restricted to Christians in the sultanate of Morocco. In 1909 the Apostolic Vicariate of Morocco was erected. With the establishment of the international zone of Tangier and the proclamation of Spanish and French protectors in 1912, the French Franciscans took charge of souls in the French protectorate, which in 1923 was detached as the Apostolic Vicariate of Rabat.