PORT OF SPAIN, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - It is situated in the British Antilles and has its seat on the island of Trinidad, and it comprises the Windward Islands, the islands of Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, the Grenadines, and other smaller ones.
In 1513 Peter of Cordova, Dominican provincial in St. Domingo, sent the first Dominicans to Trinidad, but they were killed. In 1571 twelve Franciscans from Granada went there, and they fell victim to the unhealthy climate. In 1576 two Jesuits went there and worked in Trinidad for some years before going to Guiana. The first ecclesiastical foundation came in 1591. In 1596 another twenty-two priests arrived from Castile and Seville at Port of the Spaniards, today Port-of-Spain, accompanied by a large throng of adventurers in search of fortune. In 1622 Spain fully established its authority over Trinidad, which was apparently considered to belong to the diocese of Puerto Rico. In 1687 the Capuchins began their apostolate there according to the system of the reductions of Paraguay and founded various missionary centers that were also centers of the whole of civil life.
On 27 March 1802 the Treaty of Amiens assigned the island of Trinidad to England, which had already occupied it in 1797. The group of American islands occupied by England was at first subjected to the apostolic vicariate of London. By decree of 8 April 1808 Propaganda entrusted the Antilles and the Lucayas to the archbishop of Baltimore with the faculty of sending there missionaries from the secular and regular clergy. The scanty results obtained forced Propaganda to resolve on 23 February 1818 the creation of the apostolic vicariate with residence on the island of Trinidad, comprising British Guiana, the island of Trinidad with the Antilles as far as Puerto Rico (excluding the French possessions), the island of Jamaica and its dependencies, the Lucayas and the Bermudas. On 8 February 1836 the division of the vicariate was decreed, carried out in part with the erection of the apostolic vicariate of Jamaica on 10 January 1837. The division was confirmed on 30 January 1837 and the apostolic vicariate was called the apostolic vicariate of the Most Holy Trinity. Consequently the Bermudas were ceded to the apostolic vicariate of Nova Scotia (today the archdiocese of Halifax); the apostolic vicariate of Jamaica was created with British Honduras (today the apostolic vicariate of Belize) and with the Lucayas or Bahama Islands (today the apostolic vicariate of the Bahama Islands). On 12 April of the same year the apostolic vicariate of British Guiana was also detached from it. On 30 April 1850 the apostolic vicariate was elevated to an archdiocese and on the same date the diocese of Roseau (v.) was detached from it, while the island of Barbados was assigned to the apostolic vicariate of Guiana.
The area of the islands is 6,455 sq. km. with a population of 791,946, part of which is of African and Indian origin. Catholics number 319,000, Protestants 296,952, Muslims 35,565, pagans 147,988, and a few Jews. There are 146 priests, 25 brothers and 264 sisters. There is a major and minor seminary. The parishes are 65 and the missionary stations 118. One orphanage, 2 leprosaria, 169 elementary schools, 12 secondary schools, 2 teachers' colleges. Three Catholic periodicals are published there.
Bibliography5 works
Silverio Paventi