KRISHNAGAR, DIOCESE OF. - The mission of K. was begun in the mid-19th century, in the year 1855, through the efforts of missionaries from the Lombard Seminary (now the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions of Milan). When the Apostolic Prefecture of Central Bengal was erected on 28 June 1870, carved out of the Apostolic Vicariate of Western and Eastern Bengal, it was later raised to the status of a diocese on 1 September 1886 and constituted as a suffragan see, under the name of K., of the archdiocese of Calcutta on 7 June 1887. Divided by the Ganges, with Santals to the north and Bengalis to the south, evangelization began in the southern part, but the missionaries later concentrated their efforts on the northern part, which was detached on 25 May 1927 to erect the diocese of Dinajpur, entrusted to the aforementioned Institute. The remaining territory of the diocese of K. was held for a brief period under the administration of the bishop of Dinajpur until the Salesians assumed responsibility for the mission in 1928.
It is situated partly in India and partly in East Pakistan. It covers an area of 34,490 sq. km. and borders on the archdiocese of Calcutta, of which it is a suffragan, and on the dioceses of Dinajpur, Dacca and Chittagong. The population numbers almost 8,000,000 souls, of whom 4,500,000 are Muslims, 3,382,000 Hindus, 48,000 animists and 12,000 Protestants. There are 8,000 Catholics; in addition to 4,800 catechumens, they are almost all indigenous, farmers or laborers. About half of them are converts or the children of converts from Islam, the rest from Hinduism.
The diocesan territory is divided ecclesiastically into 6 parishes, 1 primary station and 14 secondary stations; there are 5 churches and 42 chapels. There are 20 priests working in the diocese, all Salesians and mostly Italian, and 6 brothers. About fifty sisters, more than half of them Indian, 25 catechists and 40 baptizers assist the missionaries in their particularly arduous apostolate. Instruction is provided in 3 elementary schools with 420 pupils, 3 middle schools with 527 students, 2 high schools with 687 pupils and 2 vocational schools with 81 apprentices. Charitable works include 5 orphanages with 451 orphans, 3 dispensaries, 2 asylums for widows with 42 women, and 2 foundling hospitals with 32 children. There is no proper seminary, but 2 seminarians and 3 indigenous scholastics are being prepared for the priesthood. The mission has several sodalities and about ten confraternities.
The portion of territory politically belonging to East Pakistan, and still temporarily included in the diocese of K., will contribute to forming the new diocese of Jessore, a suffragan of Dacca, while the diocese of K. will continue to belong to the ecclesiastical province of Calcutta.