TANJORE, DIOCESE of. - Situated in south-eastern India.
By decree of the S. Congr. de Propaganda Fide of 13 Nov. 1952, the diocese of S. Tommaso di Meliapor, which, under the agreement between the Holy See and Portugal of 18 July 1950, ceased to belong to the Portuguese patronage and came under the jurisdiction of Propaganda, and the archdiocese of Madras were restricted to the sole portion of territory comprised within the civil district of Chingleput and united so as to form a single archdiocese of Madras-Meliapor; while, from the portions of territory of the said two ecclesiastical jurisdictions situated outside the district of Chingleput, the dioceses of Vellore and T. were respectively erected.
The diocese of T., erected from the southern territory of S. Tommaso di Meliapor, comprises almost the whole civil district of T. and a small area belonging to the civil district of South Arcot. It borders on the Palk Strait and on the dioceses of Kumbakonam, Tiruchira-pally, and Madhurai. It has an area of 9,615 sq. km. and a population of nearly 3 million inhabitants, of whom 85,000 are Catholics, 40,000 Protestants, and the remainder Hindus, with a small Muslim minority. It is entrusted to the native clergy, consisting of approximately 50 priests, nearly all Indians. The language used is Tamil. It has ai primary stations or quasi-parishes, well equipped and with permanently resident priests. The entire diocesan territory is densely populated and provided with Catholic schools and colleges, charitable works, and benevolent institutions. It is a suffragan of Madras-Meliapor.