OGDENSBURG, DIOCESE of. - City and diocese in the State of New York (U.S.A.). The diocese, suffragan to New York, has an area of 12,036 sq. miles and a total population (1950) of 344,053 inhabitants, of whom 124,433 are Catholics; 215 diocesan and religious priests from 8 different congregations exercise the sacred ministry in the 113 parishes, 21 chapels, and 41 missions of the diocese. There are 1 diocesan seminary, 5 religious seminaries or scholasticates, 2 orphanages, and 4 hospitals; 16 congregations of women work in the schools, hospitals, and orphanages.
In 1749, the Sulpician François Picquet established Fort Presentation to protect the Christian Mohawks. The first white inhabitants of the territory were Protestants. Around 1790, the Acadians settled on the shore of Lake Champlain and were visited by missionaries from Canada. In 1838, after Papineau’s rebellion (in Canada) in 1838, several Canadian Catholics settled there, as did many Irish, driven by the famine then raging in Ireland.