The Roman Catholic Diocese of Khulna ( la, Dioecesis Khulnensis) is a Latin

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

in the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in ...

, one of two provinces in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

. However it remains dependent on the missionary

Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

episcopal see is St. Joseph's Cathedral, in the city of

Khulna Khulna ( bn, খুলনা, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of Khulna District and Khulna Division. Khulna's economy is the third-largest in Bangladesh, contributing $53 ...

Khulna Division The Khulna Division ( bn, খুলনা বিভাগ) is the second largest of the eight divisions of Bangladesh. It has an area of and a population of 15,563,000 at the 2011 Bangladesh census (preliminary returns). Its headquarters and lar ...

. Bishop James Roman Boiragi, who was a local priest, now he leads the diocese. Many Italian priests, including local priests and nuns, are preaching the word of God in the diocese and taking spiritual care to the parishioners.

Statistics

As per 2015, it pastorally served 35,352 Catholics (0.2% of 16,396,000 total) on 28,236 km² in 11 parishes with 42 priests (26 diocesan, 16 religious), 118 lay religious (21 brothers, 97 sisters) and 7 seminarians. It has Religious Societies 13, High School 5, Primary School 17, Seminary & Novitiate 8, Boarding House & Orphanages 17, Health Center/Clinic 9.

History

The bishopric was created on 3 January 1952 as the Diocese of Jessore, as a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Calcutta in India. In this region the Foreign Missionaries of Milan (P.I.M.E.) had begun their apostolate in 1855. Actually in 1856, Fr. Antonio Marietti, PIME, arrived in Jessore. From 1927 to 1952, the Salesian Missionaries worked in this territory. However, Satkhira Parish was under the Jesuits from Calcutta during 1918–1952. It was renamed on 14 June 1956 as Diocese of Khulna when its Episcopal see was transferred from

Jessore Jessore ( bn, যশোর, jôshor, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District situated in Khulna Division. It is situated in the south-western part of Bangladesh. It is the administrative centre (headquarter) of the eponymous district ...

to the larger city of Khulna. The bishopric was entrusted to the St. Francis Xavier Foreign Mission Society (S.X.), popularly known as the "Xaverian Fathers". Since the elevation of the Diocese of Chittagong to Archbishopric in February 2017, Khulna became one of it two original suffragans. Of special historical interest is Iswaripur, which is fifty miles south of Satkhira town. At this place was located the first ever Christian Church structure, dedicated by the Jesuits on 1 January 1600 under the title of "The Church of the Holy name of Jesus"; nothing of this Church remains now. There was no other Christian Church in the area comprising the present Khulna Diocese until the arrival of the PIME Missionaries in 1856. Then the first Church was at Jessore (1856).

Episcopal ordinaries

;Suffragan Bishops of Jessore :(incumbent?s unavailable) ;Suffragan Bishops of Khulna * Dante Battaglierin (Italian), S.X. (3 August 1956 – 20 March 1969), emeritate as

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox a ...

Ploaghe Ploaghe ( sc, Piàghe) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Cagliari and about southeast of Sassari. Ploaghe borders the following municipalities: Ardara, Chiaram ...

(1969.03.20 – 1976.09.23), died 1978. * Michael Atul D'Rozario, C.S.C. (21 September 1970 – resigned 19 February 2005), died 2016 * Bejoy Nicephorus D'Cruze,

O.M.I. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...

(19 February 2005 – 8 July 2011); next Bishop of

Roman Catholic Diocese of Sylhet The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sylhet ( la, Dioecesis Sylhetensis) is a diocese in Bangladesh, and comprises the civil districts of Sylhet, Sunamganj, Habiganj, and Moulvibazar. It lies in the Ecclesiastical province of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Lea ...

(2011.07.08 – ...) * James Romen Boiragi (4 May 2012 – ...); formerly,

Vicar General A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop ...

and Diocesan Administrator

Special personalities

* Father Marino Rigor, Christian Missionary and writer and translator of some 40 books into Italian, whom Bangladeshi Government awarded

Honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org

* http://www.cbcbsec.org/the_catholic_directory_4_bangladesh.tm {{DEFAULTSORT:Khulna, Roman Catholic Diocese Roman Catholic dioceses in Bangladesh Christian organizations established in 1952 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Khulna, Roman Catholic Diocese of 1952 establishments in East Pakistan