The Roman Catholic Diocese (formerly a missionary jurisdiction) of Bikoro was a
Latin Church diocese in (initially Belgian) Congo (Zaire) from 1931 to 1975, named after its then headquarters/ episcopal see
Bikoro, run by the
Vincentians (Lazarists, C.M.).
No statistics available.
History
It was founded on 3 January 1931 as the
Mission sui iuris of Bikoro, on territories split from the then
Apostolic Vicariate of Léopoldville
The Archdiocese of Kinshasa ( Latin: ''Archidioecesis Kinshasana''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Kinshasa'') is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its ecclesiastic territory includes the capital cit ...
and
Apostolic Prefecture of Coquilhatville.
It was promoted on 25 June 1940 as
Apostolic Prefecture of Bikoro, and again on 28 June 1957 as
Apostolic Vicariate of Bikoro, hence entitled to a titular bishop.
It lost its missionary ''exempt'' status (directly subject to the Holy See) by its final promotion on 10 November 1959 to Diocese of Bikoro, becoming a
suffragan
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...
of the Metropolitan then
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mbandaka The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mbandaka-Bikoro ( la, Mbandakan(us)–Bikoroën(sis)) is the Metropolitan See for the Latin Rite Ecclesiastical province of Mbandaka-Bikoro, in the western part of Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is under the a ...
.
On 12 April 1975 it was suppressed, its territory being divided between its Metropolitan, which absorbed its title by renaming to
Archdiocese of Mbandaka–Bikoro, and the equally preexisting
Diocese of Inongo.
Ordinaries
:(''All Latin rite missionary members of the
Lazarists; C.M.'')
;
Ecclesiastical Superiors of the ''Mission sui iuris'' of Bikoro
* Father Leone Sieben, C.M. (born Belgium) (1931.06.27 – 1932)
* Fr. Felice de Kempeneer, C.M. (1933 – 1938)
* Fr. Andrea Windels, C.M. (1939 – 1940.06.25 ''see below)
; ''Apostolic Prefects'' of Bikoro
* Fr. Andrea Windels, C.M. (''see above'' 1940.06.25 – death 1946)
* Fr. Camille Vandekerckhove, C.M. (1946.06.21 – 1957.06.28 ''see below'')
; ''Apostolic Vicar'' of Bikoro
* Camille Vandekerckhove, C.M.,
Titular Bishop of
Sufetula (''see above'' 1957.06.28 – 1959.11.10 ''see below'')
; ''Bishop'' of Bikoro
* Camille Vandekerckhove, C.M. (''see above'' 1959.11.10 – death 1975.02.27).
See also
*
*
Catholic Church in the Republic of the Congo
References
Sources and external links
GigaCatholic, with incumbent biography links - data for all sections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bikoro, Roman Catholic Diocese
Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Africa
1931 establishments in the Belgian Congo
Events
January
* January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
* January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
* January 22 – Sir I ...