PATNA, DIOCESI di. – Tibet (v.) was entrusted in 1703 to the Capuchins, who, after being definitively expelled from the country in 1745 and then from Nepal, where they had taken refuge, in 1769, settled in Bettiah and P.
In 1784, part of the Jesuit mission of the Empire of the Great Mogul was united with the Capuchin mission of Tibet, and on 24 August 1820 the apostolic vicariate of Tibet-Hindostan was erected, comprising more or less the whole of the northern part of India, with its see at Agra. On 7 February 1845, its northern part was separated under the name of the apostolic vicariate of P., while the southern region was given the name of the apostolic vicariate of Agra. With the establishment of the hierarchy in 1886, the latter was elevated to the archdiocese of Agra and the former to the diocese of P.; then, in 1887, after ceding a portion of its territory to the archdiocese of Calcutta, ALLAHABAD, DIOCESI DI (v.). From Allahabad, in 1892, the district of Champaran, where a flourishing mission had existed in Bettiah since 1769, as well as several other districts, were detached, and thus the apostolic prefecture of Bettiah was erected, entrusted to the Tyrolean Capuchins, who were subsequently expelled by the English government in 1914. From the territory of the apostolic prefecture of Bettiah and a strip of territory belonging to the diocese of Allahabad south of the Ganges, a new diocese was erected on 10 September 1919 under the name of P., suffragan of Calcutta and entrusted to the Society of Jesus.
It is divided into 4 districts, containing 32 primary stations and 108 secondary stations, 16 churches and 56 chapels. It has an area of 231,507 km² and a population of approximately 33 million inhabitants, of whom 30,000 are Catholics, 12,000 Protestants, two and a half million Muslims, 30 million Hindus and 630,000 animists. The language used by the majority is Hindustani; in the eastern part of the diocese Santali is used, and in Nepal Nepali. The mission personnel consists of 11 Indian secular priests, 70 Jesuit fathers and 12 Franciscan fathers of the Third Order Regular, who since 1938 have been entrusted with the part inhabited by the Santali. There are approximately fifteen brothers, 160 nuns, 100 catechists, 100 male teachers and 54 female teachers, with a total of 39 elementary schools, 15 middle schools, 7 secondary schools, 4 vocational schools and 1 normal school. The charitable institutions comprise 2 hospitals, 10 orphanages and 5 homes for the elderly. Male and female Marian congregations are numerous.