ONITSHA, ARCHDIOCESE of. - In the south-central part of Nigeria. Missionaries of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, coming from Gabon (French Equatorial Africa), settled there in 1885.
On 25 July 1889, the apostolic prefecture of Lower Niger was detached from the apostolic vicariate of the Two Guineas; it was subsequently raised, on 16 Apr. 1920, to an apostolic vicariate under the name of Southern Nigeria, entrusted to the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. On 9 July 1934, the prefectures of Benue (now Oturkpo) and Calabar (now a diocese) were detached from this vicariate, while the vicariate itself was renamed O.-Owerri. On 12 Feb. 1948, the territory of Owerri became an independent apostolic vicariate; the remaining territory continued as an apostolic vicariate under the name O. alone; and on 18 Apr. 1950, upon the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in British Africa, it was raised to an archdiocese.
Area: 12,770 sq. km.; pop. 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 priests, 57; foreign lay brothers, 5; native nuns, 4; foreign nuns, 35; catechists, 2,066; one major and one minor seminary, with numerous students. Principal mission stations, 21; secondary stations, 518; churches, 98; chapels, 415; hospitals, 21; dispensaries, 21; orphanages, 2; leprosaria, 5. Elementary schools, 456; secondary schools, 3; teacher-training schools, 6. There are 145 Catholic Action associations.