Ecclesiastical Details - Catholics India

Diocese of Bareilly

Rite:

Latin

Population:

8898990

Status:

Diocese

Catholics:

6435

Founded:

00:00.0

Diocesan Priests:

Total area:

32860 Sq kms

Religious Priests:

Province:

Agra

Religious Sisters:

302

Region:

Agra

Seminarians:

Patron:

Our Lady of Nativity & St Alphonsus

Languages:

English Urdu Hindi Punjabi and

Civil States:

Uttar Pradesh: Bareilly Shahjahanpur and Pilibhit Uttarakhand: Almora Bageshwar Champawat Nainital Pithoragarh and Udham Singh Nagar

Contact Diocese Office :

Bishop's House 63 Cantt Bareilly 243 001 UTTAR PRADESH

Telephone 1:

0581-25 10 598 24 23 115 /

Fax:

24 25 598

E-Mail Office:

bareillydiocese1989@yahooin

Website:

bareillydiocese.org

Most Rev Ignatius D Souza, Bishops of Bareilly

Name:

Most Rev Ignatius D Souza

Designation:

Bishops

Canonical Possession:

2014-

Telephone (P):

E-mail (P):

Other Present & Retired Ordinaries of the Diocese of Bareilly

Bishops Name	Designation	Period
	Retired	1989-2014

Pilgrim Centres in theDiocese of Bareilly

Ecclesiastical Institutions

Social / Charitable Institutions / Care Centres

Educational Institutions

Parishes:

Hospitals:

Degree Colleges:

Major Seminaries:

Orphanages:

Technical Training Centres:

Minor Seminaries:

Special Schools:

High Schools:

Monastries:

Crèches:

Lower Primary Schools:

Convents:

Counselling Centres:

Presses & Media Centres:

Formation Houses:

Social Centres:

Professional Colleges:

Retreat Centres:

Dispensaries / Clinics:

Parallel Colleges:

Physically Challenged:

Higher Secondary :

Boarding Houses:

Upper Primary Schools:

HIV / AIDS Centres:

Nurseries/Pre-Primary :

De-addiction Centres:

Aged & Destitute:

History of the Diocese of Bareilly

The Catholic Mission in India takes its origin at the arrival of the Jesuit Fathers in Fatehpur Sikri in the year 1580 at the invitation of the Mugul Emperor Akbar In 1601 they established their headquarters at Agra In 1619 the Jesuit Fathers were in Rajasthan but the ruler there did not encourage the Christian message to spread The Jesuit Missionaries were invited to Patna in 1620 There were a few Catholic Portuguese soldiers in the army A Church was built and the foundation for a Catholic community was laid When Capuchin Fathers arrived in Patna in 1706 on their way to Tibet they found about 150 Catholics

When in 1773 the Jesuit Missionaries were suppressed two Carmelite Fathers from Bombay succeeded them in Agra who in turn were replaced by the Capuchins Ever since the Capuchin Missionaries have laboured relentlessly for the spread of the faith and the progress of the Catholic Church in north India The year 1885 marks the beginning of the long process of divisions and sub-divisions of the Tibet-Hindustan region which led to the creation of not less than thirty ecclesiastical units of north India

In the year of the Lord nineteen hundred and eighty nine on the nineteenth day of the month of January His Holiness John Paul II the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church took the momentous decision of erecting a new Diocese - the Diocese of Bareilly and promulgated the Bull "Indorum Inter Gentes" By this Bull six districts of the Diocese of Lucknow in the state of Uttar Pradesh namely Bareilly Nainital Almora Pithoragarh Shahjahanpur and Pilbhit were carved out to form the new Diocese of Bareilly having the church of St Alphonsus its Cathedral The Diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Agra

On the same day the Holy Father appointed and proclaimed Very Rev Anthony Fernandes Vicar General of the Diocese of Varanasi as the Bishop - elect of the newly erected Diocese by promulgating the Bull "Eodem Animi Pastoralis"

Thus was fulfilled the long cherished dream of the late Bishop Conard de Vito ofm cap the first Bishop of Lucknow who with remarkable foresight and vision had realized that the work of evangelizing and spreading the Gospel could not be achieved in an effective and concerted way if one pastor alone was given the care of the fourteen districts of his Diocese

Prelates of the Diocese of Bareilly