The Archdiocese of Nouméa (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Archidioecesis Numeanus'';

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

: ''Archidiocèse de Nouméa'') is a

Metropolitan Archdiocese A metropolis, metropolitanate or metropolitan diocese is an episcopal see whose bishop is the metropolitan bishop or archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces. Eastern Ortho ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, established in 1966. It is responsible for the

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

s of

Port-Vila Port Vila ( ; ), or simply Vila (), is the capital of Vanuatu and its largest city. It is on the island of Efate, in Shefa Province. The population was 49,034 as of the 2020 census. In 2020, the population of Port Vila formed 16.3% of the co ...

and Wallis et Futuna.

Beginnings

From early 1836 the territory of

had been notionally part of the vast Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania, established by the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

on 10 January 1836. Given the immense dimensions of this Church jurisdiction, preliminary surveys on the spot soon gave rise to its gradual subdivision into smaller units, though these still covered enormous tracts of ocean, dotted with almost uncountable numbers of islands. As part of this process, the history of the Catholic Church in

took an important step closer to achieving formal shape on 27 June 1847, with the establishment of the Vicariate Apostolic of New Caledonia, from which the current Archdiocese largely derives. The first head of the new Vicariate was, as is customary, a

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

. The choice fell on Bishop Guillaume Douarre, who had been a Marist Father and in 1842 had been appointed Coadjutor to the Vicar Apostolic of Central Oceania and ordained a bishop not many days later in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, France, before setting sail for the Pacific islands, not yet 32 years of age. Once in New Caledonia, Bishop Douarre remained there only until 20 Aug 1850, when he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Archipelago of the Navigators. He died there not three years later, on 27 June 1853. Ralph M. Wiltgen, ''The Founding of the Roman Catholic Church in Oceania 1825 to 1850'', Australian National University Press, Canberra 1981

Ordinaries

*Guillaume Douarre, S. M. (1847–1850), transferred then to be Vicar Apostolic of the Archipelago of the Navigators. *Pierre Rougeyron, S. M. (1855–1873) *Pierre-Ferdinand Vitte, S. M. (1873–1880) *Alphonse-Hilarion Fraysse, S. M. (1880–1905) *Claude-Marie Chanrion, S. M. (1905–1937) *Édouard Bresson, S. M. (1937–1956) *Pierre-Paul-Émile Martin, S. M. (1956–1972) * Eugène Klein, M.S.C. (1972–1981) * Michel-Marie-Bernard Calvet, S. M. (1981–14 January 2025) * Susitino Sionepoe, S.M. (appointed 14 January 2025)

References

External links and references

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...

Nouméa 1847 establishments in Oceania {{Oceania-RC-diocese-stub