PORTO LUIGI, DIOCESI di. - The island of Mauritius and the other adjoining islets (S. Brandon, Rodriguez, Agalega, Farguhas, Chagos Archipelago, Diego Garcia, Six Iles, Peros Banhos, Salomon), which constitute the diocese of P. L., belong to the Mascarene Islands archipelago in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.
Mauritius, already known to the Arabs, was discovered in 1507 by the Portuguese Diego-Fernandez Pereira, who called it Isola del cigno, and was later visited by Pedro Mascarenhas. Annexed to Holland in 1598 by Admiral van Warwick, who gave it the name Mauritius in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau, and subsequently abandoned, it was occupied in 1715 by the French, who called it Ile de France. The Lazarists cared for it from 1722 to 1819, with faculties delegated by the Archbishop of Paris, to whom the mission had been entrusted by the Holy See. In 1810 it passed under the British crown. According to the act of capitulation, the inhabitants retained their religion, usages, laws, and customs, and the Catholic religion remained the religion of the State, in accordance with the Concordat of 1801. The island then regained the name Mauritius. In 1819 Propaganda made P. L. the centre of an immense apostolic vicariate, entrusted to the Benedictines, which included Mauritius, S. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar, the Seychelles Islands, and all Australia. After new missions had been established, the territory, subsequently reduced, was raised to the status of a diocese in 1847; in 1916 it was entrusted to the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. The diocese of P. L. is immediately subject [to the Holy See] and currently has an area of 2080 sq km; a population of approximately 473,000 inhabitants, of whom 160,000 are Catholics, with 380 catechumens, 70,000 Muslims, 220,000 Hindus, and 10,000 Chinese, among whom efforts are being made especially and fruitfully to promote a movement of conversions; 27 secular priests, 28 priests of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, and 6 Jesuits; 2 indigenous lay brothers and 15 foreign ones; 303 sisters, of whom 233 are indigenous and 70 foreign, with 12 novices; 17 major seminarians, of whom 9 study in Paris and 8 in Rome; 4 minor seminarians; 259 catechists; 37 parishes; an impressive complex of charitable institutions; 59 primary schools and 8 secondary schools; 4 periodicals with a circulation of 8,800 copies.