Apostolic Letter Materna Ecclesiae Caritas, 10th November 1884

His Eminence Cardinal Charles-Martial Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers, in the Holy Roman Church, after taking over the Vicariate of Tunis, like the astute and industrious man that he is, at once applied himself to the task of the propagation of faith and the establishment of the Church. Soon he had set in motion various good works with the aim of raising up Carthage from its ashes.

He built an episcopal residence with a chapel attached in a part of the city called Megara, close to the place that Cyprian had sanctified by the shedding of his own blood, near to the saint’s burial place, among the ruins of ancient Carthage. There the local people and especially the poor and the needy, every day find some relief of their misery. Staying with him in the episcopal house are priests, Capuchin Franciscans, who contin ue to carry out their priestly ministry in Tunis, and in the most populous parts of the vicariate.

At Byssa, he established a Seminary for Carthage, where under the careful instruction of capable teachers, the seminarians study theology, philosophy and the humanities, and are a sign of hope for the new diocese. He has created new parishes and situated one of them around the chapel dedicated to St Louis, in the very place where that holy King was called away from this short life and received in heaven his eternal reward.
Cardinal Lavigerie has also set up a hospital for the elderly and the poor, where they might be cared for, and has established schools for both sexes.

Bearing all this in mind, and after consulting the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, we hereby re-establish, by the authority of this letter, for the well-being of the Christians there, and especially for the salvation and honour of the African people, the archiepiscopal See of Carthage. Wherefore, we give instructions that within the boundaries of the Tunisian territory that was once Carthage, and which today comprises the five towns of La Marsa, Sidi-Bou-Said, Douar-es-Chott, La Malga, and Sidi-Daoum, together with their churches, chapels, and ecclesiastical buildings, all the Catholic inhabitants of both sexes should pass from the authority of the Vicar Apostolic of Tunisia to that of the Archbishop of Carthage, to whom for the future they owe their obedience.

Finally, we charge our Venerable Brother Charles-Martial Lavigerie, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Archbishop of Algiers and Administrator of Tunis, to carry out all that has been instructed in this document, whether that is done by himself, or by a third person duly appointed.

(Translated into English from: Lettres Apostoliques de S. S. Léon XIII Encycliques, Brefs, etc Texte latin avec la traduction française en regard. Tome second, Paris : Maison de la Bonne Press, 11-14)