Charlottetown

DIOCESE OF CHARLOTTETOWN (CAROLINAPOLITANA)

Includes all Prince Edward Island (formerly called St. John's Island), the smallest province of the dominion of Canada. It is situated in the southern waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and, together with the Magdalen Islands lying about sixty miles to the north-east of it, constitutes a diocese which takes its name from Charlottetown, the chief town of Prince Edward Island. The history of Catholicity in the territory now comprised in the diocese of Charlottetown goes back to the year 1719, when all the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence were granted by the King of France to count Saint-Pierre, a nobleman of his court. Up to that time the population of Prince Edward Island consisted of a few Indians, but on its concession to Count Saint-Pierre immigration set in, and soon a number of settlements were formed, the chief one being at Port La Joie, where the count established his head-quarters. The first priest to labour in the new colony was René-Charles De Breslay, a