SAN PIETRO e MIQUELON, PREFETTURA APOSTOLICA DELLE ISOLE of. – It comprises a small group of islands belonging to France, situated south of Newfoundland.
From the beginning of the seventeenth century, those islands were a center for fishing, visited especially by the French. The fishermen built a chapel at St-Pierre in 1689 and another at M. The wars between France and England made the inhabitants acquainted with the horrors of various invasions and deportations carried out by the English Protestants. Religious assistance was provided by secular or regular priests, especially by the chaplains of the “King’s Ship” during the fishing season.
At the papal audience of 26 May 1763, the Holy See granted the King of France four apostolic prefectures of the secular clergy for the islands of S. Domingo, Martinica, Caienna, S. P. and M. The first apostolic prefect (to reach the see) for S. P. and M. was Giuliano Becquet, who, together with the vice-prefect G. B. Paradis, was appointed in 1767 (papal audience of 3 May) general chaplain of the French Colonies and vicar general of Québec. Subsequently, the Society of the Holy Spirit provided ministry in the prefecture with seminarians from the Seminary of the Holy Spirit until 1793, and again beginning in 1816, after the Treaty of Paris (1814) had restored the islands to France. The mission was restored by the apostolic prefect M. Ollivier, appointed on 13 June 1818. By letter of 4 March 1912 to the superior general of the Spiritans, Propaganda once again entrusted the prefecture to their care.
The area of the islands is 241 sq. km., with 4,354 inhabitants, of whom 4,350 are Catholics. Missionaries 6, brothers 2, sisters 34, elementary schools 4, secondary schools 3. Primary stations 3, secondary stations 1, churches 3, chapels 1.