TIGRAI. – Apostolic prefecture erected on 15 March 1937 by the apostolic constitution Quo in Aethiopiae regionibus (AAS, 29 [1937], pp. 357–58).
It comprises the region of the same name and the civil commissariats of Adua, Makallé, Adigrat, Abbi Addi, and Alomata (at the time of the Italian occupation). The seat of the apostolic prefect is Adigrat. The prefecture, which is subject to the S. Congr. for the Oriental Church, suffered greatly from the war, since all the Italian missionaries were expelled.
It has 10 churches, 16 priests, and 4,000 faithful among 1,800,000 inhabitants.
BIBL.: Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 767. Guglielmo de Vries