SAN PAOLO DELL'ALBERTA, DIOCESI di. - City and diocese in the province of Alberta (Canada). The first mission at S. P. was established by Fr. J. A. Therien, O.M.I., under the name of St-Paul-des-Métis. Therien left Edmonton for his new mission on 8 July 1896.
The diocese of S. P. was erected by Pius XII on 17 July 1948 through the division of the archdiocese of Edmonton, Alberta. The diocese covers an area of 45,000 sq. km., with a Catholic population (1941) of 24,795 inhabitants of the Latin rite (of whom 10,599 are French-speaking and 2,309 English-speaking) and 9,385 of the Ukrainian rite. Non-Catholics number 42,739. There are 29 Latin diocesan priests and 19 Eastern religious priests (Redemptorists); they exercise the sacred ministry in 34 churches, 41 missions, and 27 stations. The diocese also contains 7 hospitals, 1 school for indigenous people, and 17 women’s institutions.