VALLEYFIELD, DIOCESI of. — A city in the Province of Québec (Canada).
The diocese of V. covers an area of 2,221 square miles, with a total population of 87,000 inhabitants, 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 Montréal and the university seminary of Ottawa; there are 3 colleges, 1 school of agriculture, 52 churches, 4 orphanages, 3 homes for the aged, 1 hospital, 47 parishes, and 2 retreat houses. The classical college of Rigaud (Collège Bourget, directed by the Clerics of St. Viator) is situated in the diocese.
The city of V. (Campivallensis) is situated on the shore of Lake St. Francis (Saint-François), south of the St. Lawrence River. The city was founded in 1855 under the name of St. Cecilia and later became Salaberry, or V., in 1874. It is an industrial center.
The diocese of V. was separated from Montréal on 5 April 1892 by Leo XIII with the bull Universalis ecclesiae procuratio and still forms part of the ecclesiastical province of Montréal. The first bishop was Msgr. Giuseppe Medardo Eymard, later archbishop of Ottawa, who founded a highly successful classical college affiliated with the University of Montréal.