at Biskra in Algeria, at the entrance to the Sahara, of a so-called House of God, intended for the formation of the "Brothers of the Sahara" or "Pioneers of the Sahara", who would engage in charitable works and in extending hospitality to travelers, the sick and fugitive slaves. The Pioneers of the Sahara had to live as religious, but without monastic vows. As early as February, 1891, the station at Ouargla, also in northern Algeria, suppressed in 1876, was re-established, and in October Father Harquard sent thither six armed "pioneers" who wrote to the cardinal: "We shall endeavor to hold high the banner of the Sacred Heart and the flag of France." The White Sisters founded hospitals at Ghardaïa and El Tbiod Sidi Cheikh, thus gaining the confidence of populations which were hostile to France. The Fourean-Lamy expedition of 1898, which succeeded in crossing the desert as far as Lake Chad, opened wider avenues to the Catholic apostolate. The Prefecture Apostolic of the Sahara and the Sudan became a Vicariate Apostolic on 6 March 1891, and in 1901 received new boundaries by which the Prefecture Apostolic of Ghardaïa was separated from it. The twentieth degree of latitude forms the boundary between them. In the early 20th century, the vicariate, with an estimated total population of 4,000,000, governed 1000 European Catholics, 600 black Catholics, 4000 catechumens, 40 missionaries, 15 sisters and 35 catechists; it had 12 churches or chapels, 10 schools, 7 orphanages, 3 leper houses and 2 hospitals. See also Catholic Church in Algeria Catholic Church in Libya References Sources Sahara Catholic Church in Algeria Catholic Church in Libya