**HELENA, Diocese of.** – A city and diocese in the State of Montana, United States of America. It comprises the western part of the State of Montana, including the following counties: Lewis and Clark, Glacier, Pondera, Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Missoula, Mineral, Sanders, Lodge, Silver Bow, Jefferson, Broadwater, Powell, Granite, Deer, Gallatin, Madison, Beaverhead, Meagher, Wheatland, and parts of Golden Valley, Teton, and Toole.
The diocese was established by Pope Leo XIII on March 7, 1884. The territory previously belonged to the jurisdiction of the Vicariate of Nebraska, founded in 1851, and later to the Apostolic Vicariate of Montana.
The first bishop of Helena was the Most Rev. J. B. Brondel (d. 1903). The diocese covers an area of 140,360 km² with a population of 240,000, of whom 60,000 are Catholic (1949). It has 53 parishes, 37 chapels, 49 missions, and 160 stations served by 93 diocesan priests and 12 religious priests. There are three male religious communities (Premonstratensians, Jesuits, and Irish Christian Brothers) and ten female religious communities. It has one seminary, one college (Carroll), five diocesan and parochial high schools, and 19 parochial elementary schools. In 1946, there were 187 conversions. The diocese is a suffragan of Portland in Oregon; the cathedral is dedicated to St. Helena.
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