Onitsha, Archdiocese of

ONITSHA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - In the central-southern part of Nigeria. The missionaries of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, coming from Gabon (French Equatorial Africa), settled there in 1885.

On July 25, 1889, the apostolic prefecture of Lower Niger was detached from the apostolic vicariate of the Two Guineas, and was later elevated on Apr. 16, 1920 to an apostolic vicariate under the name of Southern Nigeria, entrusted to the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. From this vicariate, on July 9, 1934, the prefectures of Benue (now Oturkpo) and Calabar (now a diocese) were detached, while the vicariate itself had its name changed to that of O.-Owerri. On Feb. 12, 1948, the territory of Owerri became an independent apostolic vicariate; the remaining territory remained an apostolic vicariate with the sole name of O.; and on Apr. 18, 1950, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in British Africa, it was erected into an archdiocese.

Area 12,770 sq. km.; population approx. 1,250,000; Catholics 148,579 with 55,046 catechumens; Protestants approx. 50,000; Muslims approx. 5,000; pagans approx. 1,000,000. Native priests 5, foreign 57; foreign lay brothers 5; native sisters 4, foreign 35; catechists 2,066; one major and one minor seminary with numerous students. Principal mission stations 21, secondary 518; churches 98, chapels 415; hospitals 21; dispensaries 21; orphanages 2; leprosariums 5. Elementary schools 456, middle schools 3; teacher-training schools 6. There are 145 associations of Catholic Action.

Carlo Corvo