DUTCH NEW GUINEA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — Formerly comprised all the Dutch portion of New Guinea and the great archipelago of the Moluccas; territory erected as an apostolic prefecture on 22 Dec. 1902 and elevated to a vicariate on 29 Aug. 1920, entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On 12 May 1949, it was subdivided with the erection of the apostolic prefecture of Hollandia (q.v.); the remaining portion took the name of the apostolic vicariate of Amboina, which in turn was dismembered on 24 June 1950 with the creation of the apostolic vicariate of Merauke (q.v.). On the same date, the northern group of the Moluccas—namely, Ternate, Tidore, Halmahera, Bacan, and Morotai—was reattached to the vicariate of Amboina, having been detached from the apostolic prefecture of Hollandia.
In this region the Catholic Church has been established for four centuries. The first missionary efforts in the Moluccas were made, during the Portuguese regime, by the priests Simão Vaz and Francisco Alvarez (1534). The island of Halmahera converted to Catholicism especially out of interest, in order to find protectors against the encroaching Mohammedanism. Similarly, at that time, many inhabitants of southern Amboina, aided by the Portuguese magistrate Calvao against the Mohammedans of northern Amboina, converted to the Faith. The success was such that, upon the arrival of St. Francis Xavier, coming from Malacca (1546–47), there were already seven parish communities constituted. Here the saint made numerous conversions, later extending his apostolic journeys to Ceram, Ternate, and Morotai. By 1563, there were almost 70,000 neophytes in Amboina. But this mission was continually harassed by the Mohammedans until 1569, when they were defeated with the help that came from Goa and through the construction of the protective fortress of Amboina.
In 1595 the Dutch sailed for the Indies for the first time. The second expedition of 1599 split into two groups, one of which headed for the Moluccan archipelago. They were Reformed (Calvinist) and adversaries of the Portuguese and, consequently, sided with the indigenous peoples, who were enemies of the Portuguese. It was a difficult time for Catholics, abandoned to the hatred of the Mohammedans on one side and the Reformed on the other. At that time, besides the Jesuits, there were also Franciscans and Augustinians in Ternate. In 1605, with the definitive defeat of the Portuguese, Amboina, Tidore, and the other adjacent islands were incorporated into the Dutch East India Company. Even the mission of Ternate, which had become Spanish territory in 1606, ceased to exist in 1663, with the succession of the Dutch. For nearly three centuries, access to these regions was legally barred to the organized work of Catholics. However, article 177 of the government regulations for the Indies gradually received a mitigated interpretation. The resumption began in 1852, when the secular priest de Hesselie made his first missionary excursion for Catholic soldiers. In 1895, the Jesuit Le Coq d’Armandville attempted to found another mission in New Guinea, near Fak-Fak, but tragically. In 1902, apostolic work began at Merauke, and in 1905 the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus arrived there, though without encouraging results, due to the poor morals of the indigenous peoples. In 1935, the Franciscan Friars Minor assumed care of the northern part of New Guinea, with their principal residence at Hollandia.