History

Christianity in the new diocese can be traced back to the Augustinian Fathers from Dhaka. Rangamati Dhubri district had a very vibrant Christian community in the 16th century. In the last century the Salvatorian priests and later the Salesians while traveling through the Brahmaputra had stayed at Dhubri.

However, the first to take up residence at Dhubri were the Salesian Fathers Archimede Piannazzi and L. Rocca, who were appointed to work among Garos. In 1932 they took up residence at Dhubri and used it as a base for their apostolate in the Garo Hills as Catholics were denied permission to work in that area. In 1936 Barpeta Road Mission was established. The whole area of the present diocese and more was covered by this parish. The present progress can be attributed to Bishops Orestes Marengo, Joseph Mittathany, Robert Kerketta and to Fr Remo Morra, sdb. Under the leadership of Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, the area had a further growth which led to the creation of the Bongaigaon diocese. Fr Joseph Zubizzaretta, sdb’s name will be always remembered among the most outstanding missionaries of the area.

The Diocese of Bongaigaon is carved out of the Archdiocese of Guwahati consisting of Bongaigaon, Baksa,Barpeta, Chirang, Dhubri Kokrajhar and Nalbari Districts of lower Assam that covers the surface area of 13,630 Sq Km. with an over all population of 5.2 million of which 56,855(1.2%) are catholics. There are 27 parishes, 28 Diocesan Priests, 36 Religious Priests, 07 Brothers and 164 Women religious. Catholic population is mainly tribals with the Bodos forming the single largest group. Santhals, Adivasis, Garos and Rabhas are the other major groups. General population comprises of Koch and Koch Rajbanshies, the Assamese and Bengalis. Dhubri and Barpeta districts have Muslim majority.