Vicariate Apostolic established by Leo XIII on 3 February, 1893, in the southern part of the province of Oriente, Ecuador. It depends directly on the Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. The vicar-Apostolic is Mgr Giacomo Costamagna, Salesian, titular Bishop of Colonia, elected, 18 March, 1895. The mission was entrusted to the Salesians, who sent thither three fathers, two scholastics, and one catechist. They were all expelled under the anti-clerical regime in 1895. The province of Oriente is populated almost exclusively by Indians of the Jíbaro stock. In the eighteenth century many of the tribes had been converted by the Jesuits, but on the expulsion of the latter in 1767 the missionaries who replaced them failed in the work of evangelization and the natives relapsed into paganism. Oriente is estimated to contain 150,000 Indians.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online