NUOVA GUINEA ORIENTALE, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. - Located in the northwestern part of N. G., under Australian mandate and entrusted to the Society of the Divine Word.
The territory, detached from the apostolic vicariate of N. G. (erected on 10 May 1889), was in turn erected as an apostolic prefecture on 24 Feb. 1896; then, on 25 July 1913, it was divided for the erection of the new Apostolic Prefecture of Terra di Guglielmo occidentale (now central N. G.) and called by the name of Terra di Guglielmo orientale; upon its elevation to an apostolic vicariate (23 Nov. 1922), it also assumed its present name of N. G. O.; and it subsequently underwent further boundary changes (27 Apr. 1927; 15 Apr. 1931).
The first missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word, led by the apostolic prefect E. Limbroche, arrived in the territory of German N. G. on 13 Aug. 1896, founding a station on the island of Tumleo (now in the apostolic vicariate of central N. G.). But they had been preceded by the Protestants, now very numerous, especially in the district of Morobe, where only recently have Catholics been able to open the stations of Gumbi and Lae, delaying the foundation of Catholic stations.
The vicariate has an area of 493,333 sq. km., with approximately 200,000 inhabitants of the Melanesian race, of whom 35,147 are Catholics and 28,051 catechumens. Foreign priests 40, brothers 14, nuns 17, catechists 448. Main stations 32, secondary stations 389, churches 75, chapels 1,451. Elementary schools 236, secondary schools 1, dispensaries 8, hospitals 1.