SURABAIA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of - Located in the eastern part of the island of Java, Indonesia, it comprises the civil districts of S., Kendiri, Rembang and Madiu, whose total area is 26,269 sq. km., slightly more than Sicily, with a population of 9,000,000 inhabitants.

This territory was erected as an apostolic prefecture on 15 February 1928, by detachment from today's vicariate of Djakarta. On 16 October 1941 that prefecture was elevated to an apostolic vicariate.

Until the arrival of the Dutch Lazarists, very little could be done for the evangelization of the natives. The small number of Jesuits was almost entirely absorbed by the care of Europeans, also because missionary work had hitherto been conducted with a predominantly colonialist mentality. Account must also be taken of the obstacles to a methodical effort toward the conversion of the natives, arising from the Muslim religion. The Lazarists arrived on the island of Java in July 1923 and after a few years fully replaced the Jesuits. In 1925 the Brothers of St. Louis of Oudenbosch, assisted by the Ursulines of the Roman Union, founded the first primary school for Javanese boys. In July 1926 the Lazarists, with the support of the government, opened an identical school at Bitta, a small town in the interior of the region.

The spiritual state of the mission is as follows: 20,722 Catholics with 753 catechumens; 8,500,000 Muslims; 400,000 pagans (animists); 48 priests, of whom 5 are Javanese; 35 brothers; 136 sisters, both native and foreign; 1 major seminarian and 33 minor ones, with 17 preparatory students; 33 catechists; 161 teachers; 23 sacred buildings; 3 hospitals; 2 dispensaries; 4 orphanages; 30 elementary schools; 15 middle schools; 3 vocational schools; 2 teachers' colleges; 2 schools for catechists. Various newspapers are published there.

SURABAIA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of - Panorama of Surabaia.(phot. Fides)

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: AAS, 34 (1942), pp. 187-88; Arch. della S. Congr. di Prop. Fide, Relaz. con sommario, pos. prot. nn. 95/28, 1515/41; ibid., Prospectus Status Missionis, 1950-51, pos. prot. n. 4348/51; MC, 1950, pp. 436-37.

Edoardo Pecoraio

« SURGE! IAM TERRIS FERA BRUMA CESSIT » - Hymn of Matins for the feast of the Assumption, composed in Sapphic meter by Vittorio Genovesi, S. J., in 1950 for the new Office after the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary.

It is an exaltation of the Virgin whose immaculate purity merited for her to ascend to heaven, without knowing the dissolution of the tomb.

Bibliography

BIBL.: V. Genovesi, Lyra sacra, Rome 1952, p. 56.

Silverio Mattei

@incollection{ec11_surabaia_vicariato_apostolico, author = {Pecoraio, Edoardo and Mattei, Silverio}, title = {Surabaia, vicariato apostolico di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {1581--1582}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/surabaia-vicariato-apostolico-di} }

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Surabaya, Apostolic Vicariate of

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