The Vicariate Apostolic of Shiré ( la, Vicariatus Apostolicus ?) was an Apostolic vicariate located in

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasala ...

Protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. It was formed from the

Apostolic Vicariate of Nyassa Nyassa may refer to: *Nyassa Company, a royal company which administered part of Mozambique between 1891 and 1929 *Niassa Province, a province of Mozambique *Malawi, a country in Southern Africa once known as Nyasaland *Lake Malawi, a lake between ...

in 1903. In 1952, the Apostolic Vicariate of Shiré was renamed as the Apostolic Vicariate of Blantyre. In 1959 it was promoted as the

Archdiocese of Blantyre The Archdiocese of Blantyre is the metropolitan see for the ecclesiastical province of Blantyre in Malawi. The cathedral church of the archdiocese is the Our Lady of Wisdom Cathedral, Blantyre. The Archdiocese of Blantyre is . Out of a total p ...

Geographic location

Nyassaland Protectoriate lies between 9°41' and 17°15' S. lat., and 33° and 36° E. long. It is about long, its width varying from 50 to . It covers an area of . The white population is at most 600, while there are millions of natives. Nyassaland is divided into thirteen districts. The mission of the

White Fathers The White Fathers (french: Pères Blancs), officially the Missionaries of Africa ( la, Missionarii Africae) abbreviated MAfr), are a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right (for Men) Founded in 1868 by then Ar ...

evangelizes the five northern districts which lie west of Lake Nyassa. The Vicariate Apostolic of Shire is composed of the eight other districts lying south of Lake Nyassa. The vicariate lies between 13°30' and 17°15' S. lat. It is bounded on the north by the District of Angoniland and Lake Nyassa, on the east, south, and west by

Portuguese East Africa Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally ...

. The territory lies as the crow flies from the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

. The name is derived from the

Shire River The Shire is the largest river in Malawi. It is the only outlet of Lake Malawi and flows into the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Its length is . The upper Shire River issues from Lake Malawi and runs approximately before it enters shallow Lake Malo ...

which flows through the length of the vicariate.

History

The Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith confided evangelization of this territory to the missionaries of the

Company of Mary The Missionaries of the Company of Mary is a missionary religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The community was founded by Saint Louis de Montfort in 1705 with the recruitment of his first missionary disciple, Mathurin Rangeard. The co ...

, founded by St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort. On 28 June 1901, the first three missionaries arrived at

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

and on 25 July began their first mission in Angoniland. In 1904 the mission was made a prefecture Apostolic and one of the missionaries, Rev. Father Prezeau, former missionary of the Diocese of Kingston,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, was elected the first

Apostolic prefect An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

. Already four stations had been founded, and numerous schools established in all directions spread the Christian doctrine. On 14 April 1908,

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

erected the prefecture into a vicariate Apostolic with

Mgr M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987) was the Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. MGR may also refer to: * ManaGeR (MGR), graphical window system * Merry-go-round train, British freight-train design Mgr. is an honorific or abbreviation for: * Manager ...

Auguste Prezeau Auguste may refer to: People Surname * Arsène Auguste (born 1951), Haitian footballer * Donna Auguste (born 1958), African-American businesswoman * Georges Auguste (born 1933), Haitian painter * Henri Auguste (1759–1816), Parisian gold an ...

as the first

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

. Prezeau was consecrated at

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

on October 4, 1908, by Mgr Allgeyer of the

Fathers of the Holy Ghost The Congregation of the Holy Spirit ( la, Congregatio Sancti Spiritus) abbreviated CSSp), in full the Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary () is a male religious congregation of the Catho ...

, and died in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 4 December 1910. On 4 May 1910, one of the missionaries received from

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

the notification of his elevation to the dignity of Apostolic vicariate. Mgr Auneau was consecrated at Chilubula,

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

, by Mgr

Dupont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

of the White Fathers, 1 Nov., 1910.

Sources

GCatholic.org
{{authority control

Shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginn ...

Christian organizations established in 1903 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century