BUFFALO, Diocese of. - In the State of New York, of which it is a suffragan diocese. Separated on 23 April 1847 from this diocese, from which it received about a third of its territory, Buffalo became a suffragan of New York in 1850. It was dismembered for the first time in 1868 to form the Diocese of Rochester, and again in 1896 to cede to the latter a further four counties; at present it comprises the counties of Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Orleans, Chautauqua, Wyoming, Cattaraugus and Allegany, with an area of approximately 19,037 sq. km. Catholicism was introduced among the Indians of the region in the 17th century through the work of the Jesuits and Franciscans of Canada, but colonization by white Catholics did not begin until the early 19th century, when Alsatian immigrants built the first Catholic church in Buffalo in 1831.
Statistics: 635,204 Catholics out of approximately 1,298,035 inhabitants, 241 parishes, with 318 secular priests and 329 regular clergy (1948), and one university (Niagara). The very popular national shrine of Lackawana, located in this diocese and dedicated to St Mary of Victory, was raised to the status of a minor basilica on 20 July 1926.