VALLEYFIELD, DIOCESE OF. - A city in the Province of Quebec (Canada).
The Diocese of V. covers an area of 2,221 square miles with a total population of 87,000, of whom 77,033 are Catholics. There are 139 diocesan priests and 77 religious (Clerics of St. Viator, Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits); the seminarians attend the Major Seminary of Montreal and the University Seminary of Ottawa. There are 3 colleges, 1 agricultural school, 52 churches, 4 orphanages, 3 almshouses, 1 hospital, 47 parishes, and 2 retreat houses. The Classical College of Rigaud (Bourget College directed by the Clerics of St. Viator) is located in the diocese.
The city of V. (Campivallensis) is situated on the shore of Lake Saint-François (Saint-François) south of the Saint Lawrence River. The city was founded in 1855 under the name of Saint-Cecilia and later became Salaberry or V. in 1874. It is an industrial center.
The Diocese of V. was separated from Montreal on April 5, 1892, by Leo XIII with the bull *Universalis ecclesiae procuratio* and still belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Montreal. The first bishop was Msgr. Joseph-Medard Emard, later Archbishop of Ottawa, who founded a very prosperous Classical College affiliated with the University of Montreal.