Lahore, Diocese of

LAHORE, DIOCESE of. — Tradition holds that St. Thomas the Apostle also preached in L. In 1591, invited by Akbar, emperor of the Mughals and the 7th descendant of Tamerlane, several Jesuits arrived in L.; in 1597 they built a church, which was opened for worship but soon abandoned (1614), because they were expelled. The year 1624 marked a revival of the mission, which, however, could not endure because of the hostility of Akbar’s successor; the few faithful who remained were visited occasionally by missionaries from Agra and Delhi. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus (1773), the mission of the Great Mughal was incorporated into the apostolic vicariate of Tibet-Hindustan, erected in 1820 and entrusted to the Capuchins.

During and after the British occupation of the Punjab, the Capuchins, who followed the troops as chaplains, founded churches in various localities, including L., Multan, and Rawalpindi. From 1855, the Ordinary of Agra took charge of the Punjab mission and, as its superior, received the faculties of an apostolic prefect, until, on 21 September 1880, the apostolic vicariate of the Punjab (including Kashmir as well) was erected, with its see at L. The apostolic vicariate was subsequently elevated to a diocese on 1 September 1886 and constituted a suffragan diocese, under the name of L., of the archdiocese of Agra. On 27 October 1888, the transfer of the diocese to the Capuchin province of Belgium was authorized, and the new missionaries arrived in L. on 9 March 1889. The territory underwent boundary changes, and the following were detached from it: the apostolic prefecture of Kafiristan and Kashmir (which became the diocese of Rawalpindi in 1947) in 1887, and part of the archdiocese of Delhi (now Delhi and Simla) in 1910. With the formation of the two independent states of India and Pakistan (15 August 1947), the diocese of L. came to be

to find itself with part of its territory in India and part in Pakistan. By virtue of a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, dated 14 July 1950, it was restricted to the part lying in West Pakistan. On 15 July of the same year, with the establishment of the ecclesiastical province formed by the dioceses situated in West Pakistan, the diocese of L. was declared suffragan to the new metropolitan see of Karachi.

The diocese has an area of 119,175 sq. km and a population of approximately 15 million inhabitants (1949 statistics), for the most part Muslims. Catholics number 73,539 and catechumens 56,416; Protestants 250,000. The primary stations number about twenty, and the secondary stations about sixty, with 27 churches and 116 chapels. The missionary personnel consists of 40 Belgian Capuchin priests, 2 indigenous priests, and ten brothers. About one hundred nuns, half foreign and half indigenous, together with 112 catechists and 81 teachers, support the work of the missionaries in an environment rather unresponsive to Christian-Catholic penetration. Instruction is provided in 17 elementary schools with approximately 3,000 children, 13 middle schools with 1,157 students, and 8 secondary schools with 265 pupils. There is also a normal school with 18 students. The charitable works consist of 3 orphanages, in which 125 orphans are educated, and 2 dispensaries with 64,000 consultations annually. Three periodicals are printed in L.: Catholic news, 500 copies; Qatholiq naqib, 600 copies; and Collectanea Lahoreensia, 180 copies. There is no seminary. Pious associations and associations of Catholic Action are also not lacking.