In 1701 some French Jesuits began to evangelize the territory of the present diocese of N., then part of the Carnatic mission founded by the same fathers.
After the suppression of the Society of Jesus (1773), the Carnatic mission was entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society under the name of Malabar Mission, which later became the Coromandel Coast Mission and was raised (1836) to the status of an apostolic vicariate with its seat at Pondicherry. In 1843 the territory was transferred to the apostolic vicariate of Madras, where in 1875 the Mill Hill missionaries arrived; they devoted themselves especially to the Telugus of the districts of Guntur, Kurnool, N., Anantapur and Cuddapah. These districts, together with part of Chittor, detached from the archdiocese of Madras, formed the first territorial jurisdiction of the diocese of N., erected on 3 July 1928 and entrusted to the Mill Hill Society. At the same time the North Arcot district (Telugu-speaking) was transferred from the archdiocese of Pondicherry to that of Madras and entrusted to the Salesians. In 1940 the diocese of Guntur was detached from the diocese of N.
The diocese of N. covers an area of 83,688 sq. km. and has about 5 million inhabitants (4,500,000 Hindus, 500,000 Muslims, 180,000 Protestants, 25,000 Catholics). The language spoken everywhere is Telugu. It has 29 primary stations and 184 secondary ones, with 9 churches and 184 chapels, served by 38 foreign priests and 20 indigenous priests, assisted by 4 brothers, about 60 sisters (more than half indigenous) and 150 catechists; 46 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, 3 high schools, 2 normal schools, 1 vocational school, 1 women’s college, 1 college for the training of catechists; also an interdiocesan major seminary and a minor seminary. Other works include: 2 dispensaries, 2 hospitals, 5 orphanages; 1 printing press, where 3 periodicals are printed; numerous sodalities and associations of Catholic Action.