MITTU, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. — In Colombia, erected on 9 June 1949 by the division of the Apostolic Vicariate of Piani di S. Martino (now Villavicencio). It comprises the entire commissary of Vaupés, situated in the eastern regions. It is entrusted to the Seminary for Foreign Missions of Yarumal, which has sent 8 priests there along with some lay helpers.
The Mission covers an area of 150,000 sq. km., with a population of 8,000 inhabitants, composed of whites and Indians. The former are engaged in cocoa cultivation and live in the town of M., the capital of the territory, San José del Guaviare, and Calamar; they lead a rather dissolute life and resent the missionaries, reproaching them for their bad customs and defending the rights of the Indians. The latter are scattered along the riverbanks; in each large hut, called a maloca, several families live together.
The missionaries have attempted to gather them into small centers, but so far they have succeeded in forming only four villages with schools and churches on the banks of the Papurí stream, named Acaricura, Montfort, Piracura, and Teresita. The number of Catholics is difficult to assess. Approximate calculations suggest that they number about 4,500. Missionary work is made difficult by the vast extent of the territory and the scarcity of communication routes, most of which are mule tracks, impassable during the rainy seasons. At present, colleges and vocational schools are being organized to provide for the education of the youth. The Sisters of the Immaculate Mary and St. Catherine of Siena, a missionary congregation with its motherhouse in Medellín (Colombia), attend to the care of hospitals and orphanages.