Tahiti, Apostolic Vicariate of the Islands

TAHITI, Apostolic Vicariate of the Islands. - It is located in eastern Oceania and comprises all the islands of the French Establishments in Oceania, with the exception of the Marquesas Islands.

The first attempts at evangelization occurred in the 18th century through the work of Manuel de Amat, viceroy of Lima. The Franciscan missionaries who landed at Valurua on 19 Nov. 1772 departed again on 20 Dec. of the same year. The second mission, inaugurated on 1 Jan. 1775, was also abandoned on 12 Nov. of the same year. At the end of that same century some Anglican ministers settled there. In 1836 the fathers Laval and Caret tried in vain to resume the apostolate. In 1841 it was possible to begin a true and proper mission, amid the hostility of the Protestants. On 9 May 1848 the T. Islands were erected into a vicariate, when the apostolic vicariate of Polynesia or Eastern Oceania was divided. It also included Easter Island, annexed to the archdiocese of Santiago de Chile by decree of 8 Feb. 1889 (carried out in 1921 by the apostolic nuncio), and the Cook Islands (v.) and Manihiki, detached in 1922. In 1875 the Tuamotu Islands were already largely Catholic. In the Leeward Islands the work was begun in 1906 and in the Tubuai and Rapa Islands in 1908.

The surface area of the ocean in which the Islands of the vicariate are scattered is 4,216,000 sq. km. The population numbers about 60,000 inhabitants of the Maori race. Catholics number 13,336, Protestants 30,000, the others are pagans, of whom about 6,000 are Chinese. The Picpus Fathers work there, numbering 22, with 15 brothers and 25 sisters. Primary stations 15, secondary 72. Elementary schools 14, secondary 2.

Saverio Paventi