Northern Solomon Islands

(PREFECTURE APOSTOLIC OF THE NORTHERN SOLOMON ISLANDS)

Established on 23 May, 1898, by separation from the Vicariate Apostolic of New Pomerania, includes the Islands of Ysabel, Choiseul, Bougainville, and all the islets under German protectorate (see PREFECTURE APOSTOLIC OF THE SOUTHERN SOLOMON ISLANDS). In 1897 the islands were put under the jurisdiction of Mgr Broyer, Vicar Apostolic of Samoa, and in 1898 formed into a new prefecture under Mgr Joseph Forestier, who resides at Kieta, on Bougainville Island. In 1911 the mission contained: 3 churches; 3 stations; 10 Marist Fathers; 5 lay brothers; 7 sisters of the Third Order of Mary; 2 Samoan catechists; 5 Catholic schools, with 140 pupils; 2 orphanages; and a few hundred Catholics. The Marist missionaries belong to the Province of Oceania, the superior of which resides at Sydney, New South Wales. Fever is very prevalent at the mission, and most of the fathers who went to the island in 1898 have been carried off by disease.