Seychelles (Port Victoria), Diocese of

SEYCHELLES (PORT VICTORIA), DIOCESE of. - It includes all the islands of the S. archipelago. They are located in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar and opposite Mombasa, from which they are about 1800 km away.

Ecclesiastically, the S. islands were united with the island of Mauritius (v. PORTO LUIGI) until Nov. 26, 1852, when

they were detached from it and erected into an apostolic prefecture. On Aug. 30, 1880, this was elevated to an apostolic vicariate, and then on July 21, 1892, to a diocese (suffragan of Colombo, Ceylon), which finally on June 13, 1899, was declared immediately subject to the Holy See. The population is in great majority of French origin and culture. Politically as well, all the S. Islands depended on France and were occupied by the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The diocese is currently entrusted to the Capuchins of the Swiss Province and has an area of 252 sq. km with a population of 34,677 inhabitants, of whom 31,485 are Catholics (of these only 134 are foreigners and 292 of mixed descent), 2,781 Protestants, 108 Mohammedans, and 303 pagans), it has 20 foreign priests, 15 foreign brothers, 33 foreign nuns, 24 indigenous nuns, a preparatory seminary and 2 major seminarians, 14 main mission stations and 10 secondary ones, 11 churches and 16 chapels, 2 orphanages with 27 orphans and a hospice for the elderly, 25 schools with 4,169 pupils of both sexes, and two periodicals with a circulation of about 3,000 copies. The "Legio Mariae" and the "Ligue ouvrière féminine" flourish there.