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The Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla (Latin : Vicariatus Apostolicus Africae inter Populos Galla) was a Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate established in 1846, and embracing the territory of the Oromo people (then called the Galla) in the Ethiopian Empire.
The vicariate dates from 4 May 1846. The Capuchin Guglielmo Massaia of the Latin Church was the first vicar Apostolic. He was consecrated Bishop of Cassia, 24 May 1846, and sent on a mission to the Oromo tribes. Only after five years was he able to reach the region of Galla Assandabo, 20 November 1852. Having evangelized the districts of Goudrou, Lagamara, Limmou, Nonna, and Guera, Massaia entered the Kingdom of Kaffa on 4 October 1859, where conversions were abundant. He provided the converted tribes with priests, so that when persecution obliged him to flee, Christianity did not disappear.
In 1868, Massaia was at Shewa, where he worked until 1879, and enjoyed the confidence of Menelik II of Ethiopia, who made him his confidential counsellor. In the interval the missions of Kaffa and Guera were administered by his coadjutor Bishop Felicissimo Coccino, who died 26 February 1878. In 1879 Negus John of Abyssinia compelled his vassal Menelik to order Bishop Massaia to return to Europe. The bishop had already been banished seven times, and handed over the government of the vicariate to his coadjutor Bishop Taurin Cahagne, from 14 February 1875 titular Bishop of Adramittium.
The mission of Harar was founded by Bishop Taurin, who from 1880 to 1899 worked in this largely Muslim area. He wrote a catechism and works of Christian instruction in the Galla language. The vicariate included the three main districts of Shewa, Kaffa and Harar.
For history from 1914 see Roman Catholic Diocese of Djibouti.
An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. It is essentially provisional, though it may last for a century or more. The hope is that the region will generate sufficient numbers of Catholics for the Church to create a diocese. In turn, the status of apostolic vicariate is often a promotion for a former apostolic prefecture, while either may have started out as a mission sui iuris.
MotiAbba Jifar II was King of the Gibe Kingdom of Jimma.
The Kingdom of Jimma was an Oromo kingdom in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 18th century. It shared its western border with Limmu-Ennarea, its eastern border with the Sidamo Kingdom of Janjero, and was separated from the Kingdom of Kaffa to the south by the Gojeb River. Jimma was considered the most powerful militarily of the Gibe kingdoms.
The Gibe region was a historic region in modern southwestern Ethiopia, to the west of the Gibe and Omo Rivers, and north of the Gojeb. It was the location of the former Oromo and Sidama kingdoms of Gera, Gomma, Garo, Gumma, Jimma, and Limmu-Ennarea.
The Kingdom of Limmu-Ennarea was one of the kingdoms in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 19th century. It shared its eastern border with the Kingdom of Jimma, its southern border with the Kingdom of Gomma and its western border with the Kingdom of Gumma. Beyond its northern border lay tribes of the Macha Oromo. Jimma was considered the most civilized of the Gibe kingdoms, which had a population in the 1880s between 10,000 and 12,000. It was converted to Islam by missionaries from Harar in the first half of the 19th century; C.T. Beke, writing in 1841, reported that its "king and most of his subjects are Mohammedan." Limmu-Ennarea's capital was at Saqqa.
The Kingdom of Kaffa was a kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia from 1390 to 1897, with its first capital at Bonga. The Gojeb River formed its northern border, beyond which lay the Gibe kingdoms; to the east the territory of the Konta and Kullo peoples lay between Kaffa and the Omo River; to the south numerous subgroups of the Gimira people, and to the west lay the Majangir people. The native language, also known as Kaffa, is one of the Omotic group of languages.
The Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis Abeba, officially the Metropolitan sui iuris Archeparchy of Addis Abeba is the metropolitan see of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, a sui iuris metropolitan Eastern Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Khartoum is the Latin Metropolitan archbishopric with See in national capital Khartoum whose Ecclesiastical province, including the suffragan Obeid, covers Sudan.
Guglielmo Massaia, born Lorenzo Massaia, was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who was also a missionary and Capuchin friar. His baptismal name was Lorenzo; he took Guglielmo as religious name.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Djibouti is the Latin sole diocese in the country of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Chengdu is a suffragan Latin diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chongqing covering southwestern China's Sichuan area, yet depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kangding/Kanting is a Latin diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan of Chongqing in western China, but still dependent on the Roman Missionary Congregation Propaganda Fide.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Awasa is a Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate in central Ethiopia.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte is a Roman Catholic apostolic vicariate located in Nekemte, Ethiopia.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Harar is a Roman Catholic apostolic vicariate located in the city of Harar in Ethiopia.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Meki is a Latin Catholic apostolic vicariate located in Meki, Ethiopia.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Hosanna is a Catholic pre-diocesan missionary jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church in Ethiopia.
Bishop Varghese Thottamkara, C.M. is the serving Vicar Apostolic of Nekemte, Ethiopia.
Louis-Callixte Lasserre was a French Bishop and Missionary who served in the Middle East and Africa.
Menelik's Expansions, also known as the Agar Maqnat, was a series of wars and conquests carried out by Menelik II of Shewa to expand the Ethiopian Empire.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Galla". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
