Assam
Assam
A Prefecture Apostolic in the ecclesiastical province of Calcutta, India, established in 1889. It is served by the “Society of the Divine Saviour,” whose mother-house is at Rome. The priests have a residence at Shillong. Assam includes the civil province of Assam, with Bhuthan and Manipur. The native population is 7,000,000. The Catholics number 1,800, and are attended by 6 secular and 10 regular priests. There are chapels in Shillong, Gowhati, Bondashill, Railing, Laitkinsew, Silchar, Cheerapoonjee, Lamin, and elsewhere, in all 25 chapels and 19 stations. There are 15 elementary schools; 300 pupils, boys and girls; 2 orphanages under the direction of the Sisters of the Society of the Divine Saviour; 4 charitable dispensaries, 1 asylum for aged women, and one small hospital at Shillong. The non-Catholic sects number 17, and count 18,000 adherents.
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The Madras Catholic Directory (Madras, 1906); BATTANDIER, Ann. pont. cath. (1906) 343.
THOMAS J. SHAHAN Transcribed by John Fobian In memory of James Tiernan
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Assam
a British province of Farther India, having an area estimated at 18,200 square miles, and a population of 602,500 souls. It was an independent state until 1822, when it was incorporated with Burmah. In 1826 it was ceded to the English. The prevailing religion is Brahminism, which in this province has superseded Buddhism. Among the tribes which inhabit the country, the Assamese, the Khamtis, the Singphos, and the Nagas are the most important. The first mission in Assam was established by the American Baptist Union in 1837, on the invitation of Captain Jenkins, commissioner general of India for Assam. It was at first intended to embrace all the four principal tribes in the missionary operations, but insurrectionary movements in 1839 and 1842 induced them to restrict their labors to the Assamese. In 1844 the missionaries established an orphan institution at Nowgong, which numbered for several years from 50 to 75 members. In 1849 the translation of the New Testament in Assamese was completed, and printed at Sibsagar, in Assam, in 1849. There were in Assam, in 1859, 7 American and 3 native missionaries, 3 churches, 50 church-members, 1 boarding-school with 45 pupils.-Newcomb, Cyclopeadia of Missions; (Boston) Missionary Magazine, 1859, p. 276. SEE INDIA.