FORT WAYNE, DIOCESE OF. — A city in the State of Indiana in the United States of America, seat of a suffragan diocese of Indianapolis, comprising the northern part of the same State with a territory of approximately 15,350 sq. km.
In 1948, out of a population of 1,031,978 inhabitants, Catholics numbered 187,259, divided into 149 parishes under the direction of 220 diocesan priests and 245 regular clergy, with a diocesan seminary, a university, Our Lady of the Lake, founded in 1842 by the Fathers of the Holy Cross, 6 colleges, 10 high schools, and 89 parochial schools. There are also 11 male and 4 female religious communities. In 1946 there were 1,145 conversions.
The diocese, composed mainly of German, Polish, Lithuanian, and Croatian immigrants, was erected on 22 September 1857, by the division of the Diocese of Vincennes (now Indianapolis), which then embraced the entire State of Indiana.