The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tsiroanomandidy () is a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

Latin

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, yet depends on the missionary

Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for missionary work and related activities. It is also known by its former title, the Sacred Congrega ...

. Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

episcopal see is the (Marian) Cathédrale Notre Dame du Bon Remède, in

Tsiroanomandidy Tsiroanomandidy is a city (''commune urbaine'') in central-western Madagascar, approximately 210 kilometres west of the Capital city, capital Antananarivo. Tsiroanomandidy is the capital of Bongolava, Bongolava Region and of Tsiroanomandidy Distr ...

Antananarivo Province Antananarivo Province is a former province of Madagascar with an area of . It had a population of 5,370,900 in 2004. Its capital was Antananarivo, which is also the capital of the country. Established in 1965, it was the most important province of ...

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 223,433 Catholics (37.2% of 600,167 total) on 40,000 km² in 3 parishes and 19 missions with 45 priests (28 diocesan, 17 religious), 168 lay religious (36 brothers, 132 sisters) and 32 seminarians.

History

* Established on January 13, 1949 as

Apostolic Prefecture An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Tsiroanomandidy, on territory split off from the Apostolic Vicariate of Miarinarivo * Promoted on December 11, 1958 as Diocese of Tsiroanomandidy * Lost territory (like two other sees) on 2017.02.08 to establish the Diocese of Maintirano.

Ordinaries

(all

Roman rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

; so far -mostly European missionary- members of Latin congregations) ;''Apostolic Prefect of Tsiroanomandidy'' * Father Angel Martínez Vivas,

Trinitarians The Trinitarians, formally known as the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives (; abbreviated OSsT), is a mendicant order of the Catholic Church for men founded in Cerfroid, outside Paris, in the late 12th century. From the very o ...

(O.SS.T.) (1949.01.14 – 1958.12.11 ''see below'') ;''Suffragan Bishops of Tsiroanomandidy'' * Angel Martínez Vivas, O.SS.T. (''see above'' 1958.12.11 – retired 1977.07.30), died 1981 * Jean-Samuel Raobelina,

Missionaries of Our Lady of LaSalette The Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette (M.S. - Missionarium Saletiniensis) are a religious congregation of priests and brothers in the Latin Church. They are named after the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette in France. There is also a par ...

(M.S.) (born Madagascar) (1978.04.27 – death 2001.06.30) * Gustavo Bombin Espino, O.SS.T. (2003.10.04 – 2017.02.08), next first Bishop of co-daughter-see Diocese of Maintirano *

Gabriel Randrianantenaina In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

(2021.04.30 – ...)

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org, with Google satellite photo

Roman Catholic dioceses in Madagascar Christian organizations established in 1949 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century 1949 establishments in Madagascar Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Antananarivo Religion in Bongolava {{Africa-RC-diocese-stub

Statistics

History

Ordinaries

See also

Sources and external links