This first of two volumes documents the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Indonesia from 1808, when, after two centuries, priests were again allowed in the Dutch colony, until 1903, when the the number of Catholics, only 27,000 at the time, started to grow spectacularly.
The story of slow growth among the indigenous population, with many setbacks, is illustrated by 98 documents, which are included in their complete format and original language (mostly Dutch). Half of the book contains a lenghty introduction in which the history of Catholic missionary effort is spelled out, with, of course, a lot of attention for the islands where the Catholic clergy was actively engaged in proselytizing. This introduction is the first survey in English on the subject.