Mbeya, Apostolic Vicariate of
Situated in the southwestern part of the territory of Tanganyika, it is entrusted to the Society of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers). It originated in 1932 when, on July 18, the southern part of the then Apostolic Vicariate of Tanganyika (now of Kigoma and Karema), was erected into a mission *sui iuris* under the name of Tukuyu. It became an Apostolic Prefecture on March 29, 1938. On July 14, 1949, it was elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate under the name of Mbeya, which underwent a boundary adjustment with the Vicariate of Karema (February 2, 1950), to which it ceded a territory of a few hundred square kilometers in that part of the Unyamwanga region extending southwest beyond the mountain range that delimits the region itself for a certain stretch.
At present, Mbeya has approximately 70,000 square kilometers of surface area with over 308,000 inhabitants. The northern part, infested by the tsetse fly, is sparsely populated, while in the southern part the population is dense: the principal tribes, the "Wanyakya" and "Wasafwa," number 150,000 and 45,000 souls respectively. There are 20,517 Catholics; 3,869 catechumens. The Protestants, who have been established in the territory for over 50 years, number about 35,000, almost exclusively from the "Wanyakya" tribe; the Muslims number 4,970. There are also 3 indigenous priests; 19 others; 2 foreign lay brothers; 4 foreign sisters, who care for a government leprosarium where about 80 lepers are housed; 7 major seminarians; 20 minor seminarians; 1 preparatory seminary; 138 catechists; 12 teachers; 8 main missionary stations and 135 secondary ones; 7 dispensaries; 7 elementary schools; 1 church; 184 oratories. In 1950 there were 137 baptisms; 237 faithful are members of Catholic Action.