Neghelli [Negele Boran], Apostolic Prefecture of

NEGHELLI [NEGELE BORAN], APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. - In the southern part of Ethiopia, it was erected on 25 March 1937, on the occasion of the general reorganization of the ecclesiastical circumscriptions in the Ethiopian Empire, with territory that had already belonged in part to the apostolic vicariate of the Galla (which took the name of apostolic vicariate of Harar [v.]) and in part to the apostolic prefecture of Kaffa (now apostolic vicariate of Gimma [v.]).

The apostolic prefecture of N. was entrusted to the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions of Milan, which undertook with commitment the apostolate in that region, where the dissidents and the Mohammedans represented a small minority in the face of the vast multitude of pagans. But Italy's defeat in the Ethiopian Empire brought the end of evangelizing activity also at N., whose missionaries were subsequently repatriated. The prefecture has an area of ca. 95,000 sq km. In 1941 the population was estimated at ca. 600,000 inhabitants, of whom 232 were Catholics, 850 catechumens, ca. 14,000 dissidents, ca. 7,000 Muslims, ca. 580,000 pagans. There were already 14 foreign priests, 2 foreign lay brothers, 5 catechists, 3 quasi-parishes, 2 main mission stations, 1 secondary, 1 church, 8 chapels, 4 elementary schools and 1 vocational school, 2 dispensaries, 4 orphanages, 1 leper colony.

Carlo Corvo