Chittagong, Diocese of. — It is a suffragan see of Calcutta (India) and is entrusted to the missionaries of the Canadian province of the Congregation of Holy Cross. It was erected in 1927 with territory detached from the diocese of Dacca (q.v.); the following year the districts of Shylet and Cachar were added, detached from the Apostolic Prefecture of Assam (now the diocese of Shillong), and in 1940 the Burmese province of Arakan (q.V. AKYAB) was detached from II.
Today the diocese comprises the south-eastern part of Bengal, with an area of 60,057.76 square kilometers and about 12,731,121 inhabitants, almost all of Bengali race and language. Of these, 7,684,578 are Muslims, 4,054,712 Hindus, 825,251 Buddhists, 51,167 animists, and about 102,368 Protestants. Catholics (1948) number 11,033, and catechumens 2,012.
The first missionaries to come to Chittagong were the Portuguese Jesuits in 1559, followed by the Augustinians. Around 1875, Chittagong was cared for by the Benedictines of the Anglo-Belgian province, and since 1889 the religious of the Holy Cross have been working there.
The diocese has 10 districts with 10 primary stations and 70 secondary ones, and 4 churches and 10 chapels. There are 26 priests working in it (7 of them indigenous), 18 brothers, 42 sisters, and 51 catechists. It maintains 36 elementary schools and 4 middle schools with about 2,000 pupils, 40 high schools with 596 pupils, a vocational school with 78 pupils, and a normal school with 61 pupils. There are also 4 orphanages with 608 children and an old people’s home with 23 residents. Catholic Action is in its infancy.