PETERBOROUGH, DIOCESE of. – In the province of Ontario, Canada. Pius IX founded the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Canada on 3 February 1874 with the bull Arcano divinae Providentiae, and Leo XIII elevated it to a diocese on 11 July 1882 with the bull Quod Venerabiles Fratres.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Canada derives from a partition of the Diocese of Ottawa, and the new diocese was made a suffragan of Kingston. It has a Catholic population of 27,000; 51 diocesan priests and 4 religious (Redemptorists) have the care of souls. There are 67 churches, 2 hospitals, 2 orphanages, and 29 parishes. The diocese covers an area of 10,047 square miles.
BIBL.: Le Canada ecclésiastique, Montréal 1950, pp. 450–54; The Ontario year book and directory, Toronto 1950.