MATADI, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - It is located in the Belgian Congo, not far from the mouths of the Congo River. As early as 1649 Capuchin missionaries traveled through the region of M., and among them especially Father George (in the world Adrian Willems), of Belgian origin. During his third journey through that territory, he was killed by unbelievers and also by Christians who had returned to idolatry. The memory of that early evangelization was then gradually lost with time, although traces of it remain even today.
In 1891 Msgr. Stillemans, bishop of Ghent, sent to M. some secular priests as chaplains for the workers engaged in the construction of the M.-Léopoldville railway, who settled in the city of M., then belonging to the apostolic vicariate of the Independent or Belgian Congo (v. LÉOPOLDVILLE), entrusted to the Fathers of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Missionaries of Scheut). In 1899, when the aforementioned secular priests returned to Ghent, they were replaced by the Redemptorists, who, led by their religious superior Father Simpelaere, who can be considered the founder of the mission, undertook the work of evangelization of the region of the "cataracts" under the jurisdiction of the apostolic vicariate of the Independent or Belgian Congo, which in 1910 also entrusted to them the triangle of territory comprised between the Imkisi River, the railway and the left bank of the Congo River (mission station of Nsona Mbata). By decree of 31 May 1911 the territory was erected into an apostolic prefecture and entrusted to the Redemptorists, and on 23 July 1930 raised to an apostolic vicariate.
The mission underwent several boundary changes with neighboring missions before its elevation to a vicariate. The current extent of the vicariate of M. is about 35,000 sq km; the main centers are M. and Thysville.
The natives (Bakongo) have the idea of a single God, whose supreme dominion they acknowledge, though without paying him any fixed worship.
They do not worship fetishes, but attribute to them, as also to amulets, occult powers. They believe therefore in magic and practice it; they nevertheless acknowledge a moral law that forbids adultery, murder, and theft. Society is organized on a matriarchal basis, and polygamy, a plague not only of the pagans but also among Christians, is gradually diminishing.
When the Redemptorists began the work of evangelization, Catholics numbered barely 70. Now they are over 133,000 out of a population estimated at about 263,000 inhabitants. The catechumens are about 10,400; the main mission stations number 19 and the secondary ones 37; the priests 62, of whom 10 are native; the sisters 89, of whom 13 are native; the seminarians 95, of whom 13 are major, 68 minor and 14 in the preparatory seminary. There is an imposing complex of schools (512, of which 503 are elementary), of welfare institutions (15 hospitals, 17 dispensaries, 5 orphanages and 2 leprosariums), and of associations of Catholic Action. Three printing presses publish 4 bulletins with a total circulation of 2,400 copies.
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Carlo Corvo