PORTLAND, diocese of. – Diocese and city in the State of Maine, U.S.A. The diocese was erected by Pius IX on 8 December 1854 for the States of Maine and New Hampshire, which had previously been under the jurisdiction of Baltimore and, more recently, that of Boston. In 1884 the diocese was divided to form a new see at Manchester, New Hampshire. P., suffragan of Boston, covers the entire State of Maine, that is, an area of 33,040 square miles.
It has a total population of 913,774 inhabitants, of whom 227,192 are Catholics. There are 343 diocesan and religious priests, 132 parishes, 39 chapels, 135 missions, 24 women’s congregations with 1,399 sisters, 2 colleges, 6 orphanages, and 8 hospitals.
In 1604, 16 years before the “Pilgrims” landed at Plymouth, Henry IV, King of France, authorized Pierre du Gaust, Seigneur de Monts, to found a colony between the 40th and 60th degrees of north latitude. De Monts landed at Cap de la Heve on the southern shore of Nova Scotia (Canada) and founded a colony on the island of St. Croix (today De Monts Island). Mass was offered for the first time in New England by the Rev. Nicolas Aubry of Paris during the month of July 1604. Jean de Biencourt, Seigneur de Poutrincourt, de Monts’s successor, did much for the colonization and conversion of the indigenous peoples. The Jesuits Pierre Biard and Edmond Massé exercised their sacred ministry among the Abenakis. The Capuchins and Franciscans also worked in the territory. After the Civil War, when Msgr. Giovanni Carroll was consecrated bishop of Baltimore, the indigenous peoples requested priests, and Father Ciquard, a Sulpician, was sent to them; he remained there until 1794. Toward the end of the 18th century, a large number of Irish immigrants settled in the diocese, later followed by many French Canadians, who still today form a very important part of the Catholic population of the diocese.