Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Patna, 1999
The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has created (16 March 1999) the ecclesiastical province of Patna (India) elevating to the rank of Metropolitan Church the Episcopal see, assigning it, as suffragan dioceses, Bettiah, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Purnea.
The new Ecclesiastical Province of Patna in India was crated for the following reasons:
- differences between the people of the highlands (south) and the plains (near the River Ganges in the north)
- to facilitate and co-ordinate communications between the dioceses north of the river.
Patna diocese was originally part of the famous Tibet-Hindustan mission, made a Prefecture Apostolic in 1812. The Vicariate Apostolic of Patna was created in 1827 with Mgr Anastasius Hartmann OFM Cap as first Vicar Apostolic. In 1886 the Vicariate Apostolic was part of the diocese of Allahabad. Patna was made a diocese by Pope Benedict XV on 10 September 1919, with the division of Allahabad diocese, and the Prefecture Apostolic of Bettiah-Nepal was part of the new ecclesiastical circumscription. The diocese of Patna was divided again twice - first with the creation of the diocese of Bhagalpur in 1956, then with the creation of Muzaffarpur diocese in 1980. Moreover, the territory of the Kingdom of Nepal was made a Mission sui iuris in 1983, then Prefecture Apostolic in 1996.
Source: Fides, April 9th, 1999
- CT
