JOLIETTE, DIocese of. — A city and diocese in Canada. The Hon. Barthélemy Joliette (1789–1850) founded in 1823 the village of l'Industrie, a name which was later changed to that of J. (Québec, Canada) in 1864. The Hon. Joliette built the parish church (1843), erected a college (1845), and asked the Bishop of Montréal, I. Bourget, to entrust its care to a religious community. The Congregation of St-Viateur took possession of it in the autumn of 1847.
The diocese of J. was erected on 27 January 1904 as a suffragan of Montréal. The Catholic population, distributed across 50 parishes, numbers 82,566 inhabitants, while non-Catholics number 1,891. The clergy consists of 181 priests and 71 religious (Clerics of St. Viator). There are 50 parish churches, 1 college, 2 normal schools, 7 orphanages, 7 homes for the elderly, 1 hospital, 1 religious school, 3 novitiates, and a retreat house for men. The total area of the diocese (Province of Québec) is 8,400 square miles.