UBANGI BELGA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of - Situated at the north-western extremity of the Belgian Congo. It lies entirely within the boundaries of the province of Equateur and the civil district of Congo-Ubangi, embracing the civil territories of Libenge, Gemena, Bosobolo, and Banzyville.
Erected as an apostolic prefecture on 7 Apr. 1911, with territory detached from the then apostolic vicariate of the Belgian Congo, it was elevated to a vicariate on 28 Jan. 1935. It is entrusted to the Capuchin Fathers of the Belgian province and to some Fathers of the Italian province of Alessandria.
The work of evangelization began in the region of Banzyville on 1 Dec. 1910 with the foundation of the first mission station. Over an area of approximately 79,000 sq. km. there are 500,000 inhabitants, of whom 104,334 are Catholics, 3,146 Protestants, 162 Muslims, and the remainder pagan fetishists. The vicariate has: 14 principal and 7 secondary mission stations, 1 native priest and 52 foreign priests (all Capuchins), 2 indigenous and 31 foreign nuns, 678 catechists, 501 male and female teachers, and 362 elementary, vocational, and teacher-training schools. It provides social and medical assistance through 9 hospitals, 6 leper colonies, and 8 orphanages. It possesses 2 printing presses issuing a monthly periodical, Fana lo, with a circulation of 2,000 copies. Catholic Action operates in every principal mission station. The average rate of conversions, from 1910 to the present, may be estimated at approximately 3,000 persons each year.