ROSEAU, DIOCESI of. — Situated in the Lesser Antilles, it is suffragan to the archdiocese of Port of Spain and comprises almost all the Leeward Islands: Antigua, Dominica (with Roseau), S. Cristoforo (St. Kitts), Nevis and Anguilla, Montserrat.
Island of Dominica. The first missionary was the French Dominican Raimondo Breton, who remained there from 1642 to 1654. He was succeeded by his confrère Filippo de Beaumont and by the secular priest Varinghen, a Fleming. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, there were 1,000 Caribs, 300 Frenchmen, and, in their service, an equal number of African-born black slaves on the island. For several decades the island was without priests. Fr. Labat, O. P., visited it in 1700. On 15 September 1730, Fr. Guglielmo Martel, O. P., arrived there and founded the parish of R. After ten years of activity, he was succeeded, though only briefly, by his confrère Silvestro Michou; in 1747 the French Franciscans took his place, but were expelled in 1782 by the English, who had conquered the island. Pastoral care remained entrusted to one or two secular priests, who received assistance in 1842. Worthy of mention is Bishop mons. Carlo Poirier of the Eudists, founder of various parishes and diocesan schools. In 1872, with the authorization of Propaganda, the Sons of Mary Immaculate were called in; they took charge of eight parishes, leaving the other three to the secular clergy, which later passed to the Redemptorists in 1902.
Island of S. Cristoforo (St. Kitts). When in 1635 the French government decided to send settlers to the island—two-thirds French and the rest English—two Capuchins accompanied the emigrants by order of Louis XIII. Since Urban VIII, through the influence of Richelieu, had already granted the Dominicans jurisdiction over all the French possessions in the Antilles, difficulties arose; these were resolved in 1642 by joining the Capuchins of the island
S. Cristoforo to the province of Acadia in Canada (Archivio della S. Congr. de P. Fide, Lett. antiche, vol. 2000, f. 2: Missionarii insularae Guadelupe in Canada). The activity of Fr. Pacifico da Provins procured for the Capuchins a powerful influence in the French Antilles; following the revolt of the former governor Lonvillers de Poincey, however, they were forced to leave S. Cristoforo on 25 January 1646. Jesuits and Carmelites replaced them. There were no Catholics in the English part. In 1702, when the entire island had fallen into the hands of the English, all the Catholics were expelled and their churches ceded to the Protestants. Toward the middle of the nineteenth century, some Portuguese immigrated there from the island of Madeira, and a chapel was built for them; it was raised to the status of a parish in 1861 and entrusted to the Redemptorists in 1902.
On the islands of Nevis and Anguilla, which were always English possessions, Catholicism is of very recent origin.
On the island of Montserrat, about 400 Irish Catholics settled toward the middle of the eighteenth century, having been expelled from S. Cristoforo and West Virginia (U.S.A.). They were assisted by Dominicans and a Franciscan until 1777, when the Irish priest O’Brien took their place and remained until 1800. Only in 1902 was it possible to provide them with a parish priest; in 1911 he was replaced by the Redemptorists.
On the island of Antigua, some Irish settlers at the same time (toward the middle of the eighteenth century) were assisted by an Irish Dominican, who had no successors. In 1859, after a small Portuguese colony had been formed, it was periodically assisted by a priest, whom the Redemptorists replaced in 1902.
When the apostolic vicariate of Trinidad was erected in 1818, all the islands mentioned were placed under the jurisdiction of this vicariate. On 30 April 1850 it was raised to the archdiocese of Port of Spain, and the diocese of R., comprising the aforesaid islands, was detached from II. It is entrusted to the Redemptorists of Belgium, and the French Claretians also work there. The inhabitants number 137,000; Catholics, 57,133; priests, 32.