The Prefecture Apostolic of Welle was a Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction located in the extreme north of Belgian Congo

Belgian Congo

The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...

, Central Africa

History

The Prefecture Apostolic was separated by a Decree of the Propaganda Fide on 12 May, 1898, from the Vicariate Apostolic of the Congo Free State, and committed to the care of the Canons Regular Premonstratensian of Tongerloo, Belgium. Its limits were on the North the Vicariate Apostolic of Central Africa or Sudan; on the East the Vicariate Apostolic of Northern Victoria Nyanza; on the West a line drawn from the junction of the Rivers Uele and Ubanghi to the confluence of the Itimbri and the Congo stream; on the South the watershed of the southern tributaries of the Itimbri, eastwards to the 30° East longitude. By a Decree of 16 June, 1910, the northern boundary was extended so as to include a portion of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Sudan and now along the River Bomer and the watershed of the Nile

Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...

 and the Congo to where it crosses the 4° Southern latitude.

The first Prefect Apostolic, Rt. Rev. Leo Derikx, was born at Neerpelt

Neerpelt

Neerpelt is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006 Neerpelt had a total population of 16,117. The total area is 42.78 km² which gives a population density of 377 inhabitants per km².-Famous inhabitants:...

, Belgium, 20 July, 1860, entered the Premonstratensian

Premonstratensian

The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...

 novitiate on 8 October, 1878; was professed, 8 May, 1882; ordained, 20 December, 1884; and appointed prefect Apostolic in 1898. He resided at Imbembo in the south-western portion of the prefecture.

More than 20 dialects or languages were spoken in the prefecture; the missionaries used the Bangala

Bangala language

Bangala, or Ngala, is a Bantu language spoken in the northeast part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in South Sudan, and the extreme western part of Uganda. A divergent form of Lingala, it's used as a lingua franca by people with different languages and rarely as a first language. The...

tongue.