SAMBALPUR, DIOCESE of. — Erected by decree of 14 June 1951 and constituted from the civil districts of Ganpur, Bonai, and Bamra (ceded by the diocese of Ranchi), from those of Patna and S. and part of the district of Sonepur (ceded by the diocese of Nagpur), and finally from the districts of Raikol Athamalik, Angul, Pal Lahara, Talchar, Hindol, and Dhenkanal (ceded by the archdiocese of Calcutta).
It borders the dioceses of Ranchi, Nagpur, and Cuttack, and the archdiocese of Calcutta. The total area of the diocese, which lies entirely within the State of Orissa, is 47,000 sq. km., with a population of 3,608,795 (1941 census), consisting of: 2,570,000 Hindus, 924,000 aborigines, 14,000 Muslims, and 100,000 people of various ethnic groups. The language used and understood by all is Oryz, but other languages are also spoken among the aboriginal tribes. There are 66,000 Catholics and 30,000 Protestants of various denominations. The city of S., the seat of the diocese, is the most populous center, with approximately 20,000 inhabitants. The diocese has been entrusted to the Society of the Divine Word and declared a suffragan of Calcutta. At present there are 6 residences with 6 churches, 231 small chapels, 116 catechists and 112 teachers, 2 institutes of women religious, one foreign and the other indigenous, 1 secondary school, 6 middle schools, 2 normal schools, 2 vocational schools, 125 elementary schools, 3 small hospitals, and quite a few dispensaries. Before the proclamation of India as an independent state, some of the districts constituting the diocesan territory were small semi-independent states, impenetrable to Christianity. With the promulgation of the Constitution of the new Indian Republic, which guarantees freedom of worship and proselytism everywhere, it will be possible for the missionaries to go also into the areas that had hitherto been closed to every form of evangelization.