CAP-HAÏTIEN, DIOCESE OF. – A small town in the north of the Republic of Haiti in the Antilles, and a suffragan diocese of Port-au-Prince, covering an area of 8,000 sq. km. and having a population of 485,000 Catholics out of 500,000 inhabitants. It comprises 130 churches, 26 parishes, 49 diocesan priests, and 12 religious priests (1948).
The town was founded by the Spanish in 1670, first taking the name of Cabo Santo, then, under the French regime, that of Cap François, Cap-Henri (1803), and finally, upon the declaration of independence (1804), that of Cap-Haïtien. The diocese was erected on 3 Oct. 1861, following the Concordat of 28 Mar. 1860 between Pius IX and the Republic of Haiti, which made possible the establishment of the ordinary ecclesiastical hierarchy with Port-au-Prince as the metropolitan see. However, the first bishop, Constant Maturin Hillion (who later died as archbishop of Port-au-Prince), was not installed until 1875. Port-de-Paix, whose elevation to a diocese had also been decided in 1861, remained under the administration of the bishop of Cap-Haïtien until 1928. On 25 June 1929 a decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation detached four parishes from the diocese and annexed them to the diocese of Gonaïves.