HEARST, DIOCESE OF. – A city and diocese in Canada, situated in the northern part of the province of Ontario. Its boundaries are: to the north, the new Apostolic Vicariate of James Bay (50° 45' 23"); to the east, the frontier and the province of Quebec as far as Lake Abitibi; to the south, the dioceses of Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie; to the west, the Diocese of St. Boniface. HEARST was established as an Apostolic Prefecture on 18 April 1918, as an Apostolic Vicariate on 17 November 1920. Pope Pius XI, with the Apostolic Constitution *Maxime interest* of 3 December 1938, elevated it to a diocese, as a suffragan of Ottawa. The cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, assumed into heaven.
It has an area of approximately 42,000 sq. km., with a population of over 42,000, of whom 24,411 are Catholics, most of them French-speaking. It comprises 27 parishes, 43 missions, 36 diocesan priests and 9 religious priests, two male religious communities and nine female ones.