CHICOUTIMI, DIOCESE of. - In Canada. A city in the province of Quebec, and a suffragan of Quebec, it comprises the counties of C., Charlevoix, Lac St-Jean, and part of that of Saguenay. In 1947 it had 191,000 Catholics under the direction of 250 diocesan priests and 53 religious, with 89 parishes, 8 missions, 89 chapels, 1 seminary, 18 colleges for boys, 7 academies for young ladies, 350 schools, and 2 orphanages. At St. Michael of Mistassini is situated the Cistercian abbey of the Strict Observance of Notre-Dame de Mistassini, founded in 1892.
The city of C., founded in the middle of the 19th century by settlers from the St. Lawrence valley, forms part of that region whose colonization began in the 17th century and was assisted by the Jesuits until the end of the 18th century, then by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate until the middle of the 19th century, and thereafter by the diocesan clergy. The diocese of C. was created on 28 May 1878 by dismemberment of the archdiocese of Quebec. The Cathedral dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, destroyed by fire in 1912 and 1919, was rebuilt for the third time.