TANANARIVE, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. — It is situated in the central part of Madagascar.
After various unsuccessful attempts made under Queen Ranavalona I (d. 16 Aug. 1861), Radama II finally permitted the missionaries to go to T., where Fr. Weber arrived in Sept. 1861, followed later by other missionaries. The following year the first Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny went there. The Protestants also established themselves in T. that same year (1861) and succeeded in obtaining recognition of Protestantism as the state religion. The mission developed rapidly, but during the French war against the Hova it suffered greatly, as it also did from the anticlericalism of the French government, which had taken possession of the island.
On 21 Jan. 1848 the apostolic prefecture of Madagascar was elevated to a vicariate. On 4 Sept. of the same year, the apostolic prefecture of the Islands of S. Maria, Mayotta and Nossi-Be was detached from it; on 27 Nov. 1858, the Islands of Anjouan, Mohély and Grande Comore were also annexed to that prefecture. On 16 Jan. 1896 the apostolic vicariate of Madagascar was divided into the apostolic vicariate of northern Madagascar, entrusted to the Jesuits and based at T., and the apostolic vicariate of southern Madagascar, entrusted to the Lazarists and based at Fort-Dauphin. The boundary was
the 22nd parallel. On 5 July 1898 the central region of the island was detached from the apostolic vicariate of northern Madagascar to form the apostolic vicariate of central Madagascar for the Jesuits, while the northern vicariate was transferred to the Spiritans. On 10 May 1913 Fianarantsoa (v.) was detached from the apostolic vicariate of central Madagascar, and on 15 May 1913 the apostolic prefecture of Betafo, Antsirabé (v.). On 20 May 1913 the apostolic vicariate of central Madagascar was named the apostolic vicariate of T. On 13 Dec. 1933 the «sui iuris» mission of Mianarivo (v.), now an apostolic vicariate, was detached from the apostolic vicariates of T. and Majunga. On 18 June 1935 the apostolic prefecture of Vatomandry, Tamatave (v.), was detached from the apostolic vicariates of T. and Fianarantsoa. After all these divisions, T. has become one of the smallest apostolic vicariates.
It has an area of 20,000 sq. km., with approximately 6,000,000 inhabitants, of whom 158,161 are Catholics, 8,572 catechumens, 200,393 Protestants, 102,477 pagans, and a few hundred Muslims. There are 102 missionaries, 157 brothers, and 208 sisters. There is a regional major seminary and a minor seminary. Catechists: 634; quasi-parishes: 8; principal mission stations: 21; secondary stations: 609. Elementary schools: 234; middle schools: 18; higher schools: 12; vocational schools: 3; teacher-training schools: 2. The mission is developing fully, also through the organization of pious associations and Catholic Action.