Kwango, PREFECTURE APOSTOLIC OF.—Kwango is the name of a river which flows into the Kassai, which itself is a tributary of the River Congo. This mission (missio Kwangensis) formed part of the Vicariate Apostolic of Belgian Congo till April 8, 1892, when a decree was issued, entrusting this new mission to the Jesuit Fathers of the Belgian province. The late Father Emil van Hencxthoven (1852-1906) was its first superior. He left Belgium March 6, 1893, with two fathers, one scholastic and two lay brothers, and reached the mission towards the end of May. Unfortunately, owing to the hardships of the voyage, one of the fathers died on the way. By decree of January 30, 1903, the Kwango mission was made a prefecture Apostolic (Praefectura Apostolica Kwangensis), the first prefect Apostolic being Father Julian Banckaert, S.J., whose residence is at Kisantu, the chief mission station. The prefecture comprises the civil districts of Eastern Kwango and that of Stanley Pool as far to the north as the River Kassai. It is located between 4° to 8° S. latitude and 15° to 20° E. longitude. Its boundaries are to the north the River Kassai, to the east the range of hills between Rivers Loange and Jjuma; to the south Portuguese territory; to the west the River Inkisi and the railway to Leopoldville. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur have two important institutions at Kisantu and at Nlemfu, where they provide for more than one thousand native girls. Julian Banckaert, S.J., was born at Bruges in 1847, entered the diocesan seminary, and was ordained in 1871. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1875, and was sent to Bengal in 1878. There he was successively a missionary, superior of the mission, and military chaplain, till, in 1901, he was sent to the Kwango mission.
J. BANCKAERT