Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Victoria Nyanza
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Apostolic Vicariate of Northern (Victoria) Nyanza Vicariatus Apostolicus Victoriensis–Nyanzensis Septentrionalis |
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| Location | |
| Country | Uganda |
| Information | |
| Rite | Latin Rite |
| Established | 31 May 1883 - 15 January 1915 |
The Apostolic Vicariate of Northern (Victoria) Nyanza (Latin: Vicariatus Apostolicus Victoriensis–Nyanzensis Septentrionalis) was a Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction in present Uganda.
The mission of Victoria Nyanza was founded in 1878 by the White Fathers of Cardinal Lavigerie, was erected into the Apostolic Vicariate of Victoria Nyanza on 31 May 1883, with Mgr. Léon Livinhac as the first vicar Apostolic. When the latter was raised to the superior-generalship of the Society of White Fathers (October, 1889), the Holy See appointed Mgr. John Joseph Hirth as his successor. A Decree of 6 July 1894, divided Victoria Nyanza into three autonomous missions: the Vicariate Apostolic of Southern Nyanza in the German Protectorate, of which Mgr. Hirth retained the government and became the first titular; the Apostolic Vicariate of Upper Nile and Northern Nyanza, in English territory, the former given to the Fathers of Mill Hill and the second to the White Fathers.
From the 18 provinces of Uganda the Decree of 1894 detached that of Kyaggive and Kampala Mengo, which it placed under the jurisdiction of the Fathers of Mill Hill, and gave to Northern Nyanza the remaining 17 provinces of the Kingdom of Buganda, the three Kingdoms of Unyoro, Toro and Ankole, and in the Belgian Congo an isosceles triangle whose top was the northern point of Lake Albert Nyanza and whose base followed the 30th degree of longitude.
Three groups shared the portion of Northern Nyanza lying in the English protectorate; the first, that of the Baganda, in the early 20th century represented by 670,000 inhabitants, gave support to evangelization. the 1886 Ugandan Martyrs were Baganda. The second, the Banyoro, numbered 520,000 aborigines; the third, the Bahima (who are Hamites), the leading class in the shepherd Kingdom of Ankole, was a minority not exceeding 50,000 souls. The total population of Northern Nyanza equaled therefore about 1,500,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,400,000 were in English territory, and 360,000 in the Congo country.
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