NAGOYA, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE of. — In the region of the island of Hondo (Japan). It consists of five civil prefectures: Aichi, Gifu, Ishikawa, Fukui, Toyama. It was erected on 18 February 1922, its territory being detached in part from the archdiocese of Tokyo and in part from the apostolic prefecture of Niigata. It extends over 31,018 sq. km., with approximately 8,560,000 inhabitants, for the most part Buddhists and Shintoists. The Catholics number 2,512, with 989 catechumens; the Protestants, 16,000.
The first to evangelize this territory were the Jesuits, among whom Fr. Baldassare de Torres deserves particular mention: he carried out his apostolate especially in Kaga and Noto and was burned alive at Nagasaki in 1633. The missionary revival, after two centuries during which the Catholic religion was prohibited, was the work of the Fathers of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (1870). In 1907 the missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word arrived; the mission remained entrusted to them until it passed under the jurisdiction of a Japanese Ordinary (14 January 1941). The Divine Word Fathers, who remained as auxiliary personnel, currently number 38. They have recently been joined by several Australian missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There are 6 national priests; brothers: 3 native and 4 foreign; 64 sisters, of whom 38 are Japanese and 26 foreign; 15 seminarians; 7 catechists; 35 teachers; 13 sacred buildings; 2 hospitals; 3 orphanages; 2 secondary schools; one higher school; one school for catechists; 7 kindergartens; one district; 14 quasi-parishes; 13 primary and 6 secondary stations; there is a Catholic university and a university college.
id., Prospectus status missionis, 1950, pos. prot. n. 4362/50; id., Quadro statistico riassuntivo per le missioni giapponesi, pos. prot. n. 4351/50. Edoardo Pecorsio