THARÉ, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - It is located in Siam or Thailand, of which it comprises the entire northeastern part, i.e., Phak Isan, divided into fifteen departments.
It has an area of 145,000 sq. km. with a population of 4,800,764 inhabitants. On 4 May 1899 the Apostolic Vicariate of Laos was erected, which extended into Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, by dismemberment from the Apostolic Vicariate of Eastern Siam, now partly the Apostolic Vicariate of Bangkok. On 8 August 1924 the Cambodian province of Strung-treng was detached and annexed to the Apostolic Vicariate of Cambodia, now the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom-penh, and on 14 June 1938 the Apostolic Prefecture of Vientiane and Luang-Prabang, now the Vicariate of Vientiane, was detached. On 21 December 1950 the same Apostolic Vicariate of Laos was divided for the erection of the Apostolic Prefecture of Thakhek. At the same time, the former Vicariate of Laos, to which only the Siamese territory remained, changed its name to that of the Apostolic Vicariate of T., from the city of residence of the Ordinary. On 7 May 1953 the Apostolic Prefecture of Udonthani and the Vicariate of Ubon were detached from II. It is entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society, whose Fathers established themselves in Thailand from the very beginnings of the Society. Subsequently, the missionaries G. B. Prudhomme and Francesco Saverio Guego, sent by the Apostolic Vicar of Siam, opened the first station in Ubon, a Siamese city, where at Christmas 1859 they were able to baptize the first catechumens. Systematic and progressive evangelization began only in 1881, when, through the Mekong River, whose left bank had been occupied by France, easier communication routes with Saigon, capital of Cochinchina, were established.
There are 27,406 Catholics, with 250 catechumens; 32 priests, of whom 15 are indigenous; 105 native sisters of the "Amantes Crucis"; 6 major and 84 minor seminarians; 104 catechists; 40 teachers. There are 45 sacred buildings; 8 orphanages; 6 kindergartens; 2 elementary schools; 2 middle schools.