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 under that of Boston. In 1884 the diocese was divided to form a new see at Manchester, New Hampshire. P., a suffragan of Boston, covers the entire State of Maine, an area of 33,040 square miles.
It has a total population of 913,774, 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, sixteen years before the “Pilgrims” landed at Plymouth, Henry IV, King of France, authorized Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, to found a colony between the 40th and 60th parallels of north latitude. De Monts landed at Cap de la Heve on the southern shore of Nova Scotia (Canada) and established a colony on St. Croix Island (now De Monts Island). The first Mass in New England was celebrated by the Rev. Nicolas Aubry of Paris during July 1604. Jean de Biencourt, Sieur de Poutrincourt, de Monts’s successor, did much to promote colonization and the conversion of the natives. The Jesuits Pierre Biard and Edmond Massé exercised their sacred ministry among the Abenakis. Capuchins and Franciscans also labored in the territory. After the Civil War, when Bp. John Carroll was consecrated Bishop of Baltimore, the natives requested priests, and Fr. Ciquard, a Sulpician, was sent to them; he remained until 1794. Toward the end of the 18th century a large number of Irish immigrants settled in the diocese, followed later by many French Canadians, who still today form a very important part of the Catholic population of the diocese.