DUTCH NEW GUINEA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of.—It once comprised the entire Dutch part of New Guinea and the great Moluccan Archipelago; the territory was erected as an apostolic prefecture on 22 December 1902 and raised to a vicariate on 29 August 1920, entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On 12 May 1949, it was divided through the erection Hollandia (v.); the part that remained took the name of Apostolic Vicariate of Amboina, which was in turn dismembered on 24 June 1950 for the creation Merauke (v.). On the same date, the northern group of the Moluccas—namely Tornate, Tidore, Halmahera, Badjan, and Morotai—was reattached to the Vicariate of Amboina, having been detached from the Apostolic Prefecture of Hollandia.
In this region the Catholic Church was established as early as four centuries ago. The first missionary attempts in the Moluccas were made, during the Portuguese regime, by the priests Simone Vaz and Francesco Alvarez (1534). The island of Halmahera converted to Catholicism chiefly out of self-interest, in order to find protectors against the encroaching Mohammedanism. Likewise, at that time, many inhabitants of South Amboina, aided by the Portuguese magistrate Calvao against the Mohammedans of North Amboina, converted to the Faith. The success was such that, upon the arrival of St. Francesco Saverio, coming from Malacca (1546–47), there were already seven established parish communities. Here the saint made numerous conversions and subsequently extended his apostolic journeys toward Ceram, Ternate, and Morotai. In 1563 there were nearly 70,000 neophytes in Amboina. But this mission was continually harassed by the Mohammedans until 1569, when they were defeated with help arriving from Goa and through the construction of the fortress protecting Amboina.
In 1595 the Dutch sailed to the Indies for the first time. The second expedition, in 1599, divided into two groups, one of which headed toward the Moluccan Archipelago. They were Reformed (Calvinists) and adversaries of the Portuguese and consequently sided with the indigenous peoples, who were enemies of the Portuguese. It was a difficult period for Catholics, abandoned to the hatred of the Mohammedans on the one hand and the Reformed on the other. At that time, besides the Jesuits, there were also Franciscans and Augustinians in Ternate. In 1605, after definitively defeating the Portuguese, Amboina, Tidore, and the other adjacent islands were incorporated into the Dutch East India Company. The mission of Ternate, which had become Spanish dominion in 1606, likewise ceased to exist in 1663, when the Dutch took over. For almost three centuries access to these regions was legally forbidden to organized Catholic activity. However, art. 177 of the government regulations for the Indies gradually came to receive a more lenient interpretation. The revival began in 1852, when the secular priest de Hesselle undertook his first missionary journey for Catholic soldiers. In 1895 the Jesuit Le Cocq d'Armandville attempted to establish another mission in New Guinea, near Fak-Fak, but with tragic results. In 1902 the apostolate began at Merauke, and in 1905 the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus arrived there, but without encouraging results, owing to the very bad customs of the indigenous peoples. In 1935 the Friars Minor assumed responsibility for the northern part of New Guinea, with their principal residence at Hollandia.