SAULT STE-MARIE, DIOCESI di - City and diocese in the province of Ontario, Canada. The diocese of S. S.-M., suffragan of Kingston, was erected on 16 Sept. 1904. At the time of its foundation the diocese had 26,964 Catholics (of whom 20,090 were French-speaking), 50 churches, 3 hospitals, 30 parishes, and 50 missions.
The Franciscans were the first missionaries in the Nipissing region, with Fr. Guillaume Poublain (1622) and Fr. Jacques de la Foyer (1624). The Jesuits Isacco Jogues (canonized) and Carlo Raymbault were sent by their superiors to S. S.-M., and in 1668 the Jesuits founded the mission of S. S.-M. The principal apostle of the «Algonchins» at Nippising and Georgian Bay was Father Claudio Pijart, S. J. (v. anche MAQUETTE, diocesi di).
Today the diocese of S. S.-M., whose episcopal see is at North Bay (Ontario), has a Catholic population of 127,063 inhabitants scattered over an area of 25,000 sq. km. Catholics of British origin number 21,134, and those of French origin 63,148. There are 106 diocesan priests and 62 religious priests (Jesuits, Redemptorists, Resurrectionists). There are also 75 churches, 4 colleges, 8 hospitals, 3 industrial schools for indigenous people, and 9 congregations of women.