REGINA, ARCHDIOCESE OF
In the south-eastern part of the province of Saskatchewan (Canada).
The Catholic population numbers 69,889. There are 91 parishes and 126 missions. The clergy consists of 98 diocesan priests and 76 religious.
The first priest to penetrate the region was Abbot Joseph-Norbert Provencher, missionary at St-Boniface, in March 1819, who visited the banks of the Qu'Appelle River. Abbot Belcourt succeeded him in 1886, and Abbot Ritchot founded the present parish of Lebret, where shortly afterwards the Oblates of Mary Immaculate took over.
Central nave of the distinguished basilica of St Prospero (early 16th century) – Reggio Emilia.
The small town, named R. in honour of Queen Victoria, was established in 1881 and later became the provincial capital. In 1883 the first parish church was built. Even with the nearby missions, the parish numbered only a few hundred Catholics.
R. was raised to the status of diocese on 14 March 1910 and to that of archdiocese on 4 December 1915. Today its suffragan sees are Prince Albert, Gravelbourg, Saskatoon and the abbazia nullius of St Peter’s, Münster. The bishops were: Mgr Olivier-Elzéar Mathieu (1911–29), James Charles McGuigan (1929–34), Peter Joseph Monahan (1935–47) and, from 1947, Michael Cornelius O’Neill.