HEARST, DIOCESI di. – 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 Québec as far as Lake Abitibi; to the south, the dioceses of Timmis and Sault-Ste-Marie; to the west, the diocese of S. Bonifacio. H. was established as an apostolic prefecture on 18 April 1918 and as an apostolic vicariate on 17 November 1920. Pope Pius XI, by the apostolic constitution Maxime interest of 3 December 1938, raised 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 more than 40,000 inhabitants, of whom 24,411 are Catholics, the majority French-speaking. It has 27 parishes, 43 missions, 36 diocesan priests and 9 religious priests, two men’s religious communities and 9 women’s religious communities.