LUCKNOW, Diocese of. - Located in northern India. It was erected on 12 January 1940 and entrusted to the Capuchins. Its territory was detached from the diocese of Allahabad and, to a lesser extent, from the archdiocese of Agra, of which it was declared a suffragan. The difficult work of evangelization of this part of India is owed to the Capuchins, especially from the time when the apostolic vicariate of Patna was elevated to a diocese with its seat at Allahabad (1886). In the city of L. (600,000 inhabitants), which had become, during the British regime, the capital of central India and the seat of the civil government of the United Provinces, Catholic employees also moved, and they were periodically visited by missionaries. Churches and schools were subsequently opened in various parts, until the diocese of L. was constituted and entrusted to the Capuchins of the province of Bologna.
It has an area of 75,000 sq km with 12,000,000 inhabitants, of whom only 5,000 are Catholics; the others are Hindus (10 million), Muslims (1.5 million) and the rest Parsis and Buddhists. It has 29 churches, of which 10 are parishes, served by 26 regular priests, assisted by 1 religious community and 5 female ones. It has 8 educational institutes (Annuario Pontificio, 1951, p. 256).
A minor seminary has been opened to recruit native vocations. Pious associations and Catholic Action groups are not lacking. The following are published: Catholic Life, a monthly parish bulletin; The diocese of L., the official bulletin of the diocese, and Action, the annual bulletin of Catholic Action.
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Pompeo Borgna