PONTIANAK, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF — A Franciscan Sister of the Immaculate Conception from Veghel (Netherlands). These Sisters run the hospital in P., particularly attending to maternity and childhood.
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collegio pontificale the 15 flamines (priests of particular deities, divided into 12 minores and 3 maiores), the rex sacrorum (or sacrificulus, a special priest of Janus, whose dignity in theory was above all other priests, including the p. m.), and the Vestal Virgins, all of whom were subject to the supreme authority of the p. m., who appointed them from a list presented by the pontifical college (Tacitus, *Annales*, IV, 16; Livy, XL, 42; Dionysius, V, 1; Gellius, I, 12). The p. m. was appointed for life and was as irremovable as a king (Suetonius, *Octav.* 31; Dionysius, XLIX, 15); his duties were undoubtedly a remnant of regal functions: his official residence was the king’s house (regia) on the Via Sacra.
The college of pontiffs oversaw the cult of deities closely connected with the life of Rome, namely Vesta, the Penates, and the Capitoline triad; it also participated in other ceremonies such as the Fordicidia (q.v.), the Argei (q.v.), and the *aquaelicium*, etc. The same college was responsible for regulating the calendar and the insertion of an intercalary month (Mercedonius) every two years to reconcile the lunar year (of 355 days) with the astronomical year; this control lasted until Caesar’s reform (q.V. CALENDAR).
Moreover, the college compiled written records of religious and legal norms governing Roman life, as well as registers of magistrates and notable events in the city’s history (*Libri Sacerdotum populi Romani*; *Commentarii pontificum*; *Fasti*; *Annales pontificum* or *maximi*). As for the p. m., in addition to the duties already mentioned, his specific powers included convening the *comitia calata* to ratify inaugurations, adrogations, and wills—acts concerning the transmission of private, domestic, or gentile sacra; fixing the monthly festival days; and overseeing the religious marriage (*confarreatio*), etc. From the time of Augustus, the emperors held the office of p. m. and
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PONTIANAK, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — It is located in the central-western part of Borneo, formerly Dutch (Indonesia). The present mission began on 11 Feb. 1905, when the entire Dutch territory of the large island of Borneo was detached from the Apostolic Vicariate of Batavia (now Jakarta) and erected as the Apostolic Prefecture of Dutch Borneo, entrusted to the Dutch Capuchin Friars Minor. On 13 Mar. 1918 it was elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate of the same name. From it, on 21 May 1938, the Apostolic Prefecture of Bandjermasin (q.v.) was separated, and the vicariate assumed its current name of Apostolic Vicariate of P. On 11 Mar. 1948 this jurisdiction was again divided with the creation of the Apostolic Prefecture of Sintang (q.v.).
Politically, the island of Borneo constitutes one of the ten provinces of the Republic of Indonesia, with P. as its capital under the name of West Kalimantan. The population of the island includes the Dayaks, the Malays, and numerous Chinese. The usual language among the Dayaks and Malays is Malay. The Apostolic Vicariate of P. covers a territory of 93,880 sq. km. and has a population of approximately 987,000 inhabitants. The number of Catholics is 11,696 indigenous and 226 foreigners, with 3,585 catechumens. There are 3,400 Protestants, many of whom belong to the Christian and Missionary Alliance (Methodists). Muslims number 493,500, and pagans 493,000, of whom 296,000 are Indonesians and 197,000 Chinese.
