Former names: Prefecture Apostolic of Alaska (1894-1917), Vicariate Apostolic of Alaska (1917-1962). The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks () is an ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Roman Catholic Church in the northern part of the state of Alaska in the United States. As of 2023, the diocese had 46 parishes and missions, with 14 priests, to serve 11,876 Catholics, in an area of , making it geographically the largest diocese in the United States . The Diocese of Fairbanks is led by a bishop who serves as pastor of the mother church, Sacred Heart Cathedral in the City of Fairbanks. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau. As of February 2023, the post of bishop is vacant. History 1867 to 1951 When the United States purchased Alaska in 1867 from the Empire of Russia, it was under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Vancouver Island in Canada. Bishop Charles Seghers of that diocese made several missionary trips to Alaska during the early 1870's. He later sent Reverend John Althoff, a Dutch priest, to create missions in Wrangell, Alaska, the Cassiar mining district on the Stikine River, and the former Russian capital of Sitka, Alaska. Althoff established the first permanent Catholic presence in Alaska when he founded Saint Rose of Lima Parish in Wrangell on May 3, 1879. After the discovery of gold near Juneau, Alaska, Althoff moved there. He celebrated the first mass and baptism in Juneau in an interdenominational "Log Cabin Church" on July 17. 1882. In May 1886, Seghers was murdered by a traveling companion near Nulato, Alaska, while on a missionary trip. After learning of Segher's death, Reverend Pascal Tosi of the Society of Jesus unilaterally took control of the Alaska missions. Later that summer in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, the Jesuit superior of the Rocky Mountain Mission, Joseph M. Cataldo, appointed Tosi as superior of the Alaska mission On July 27, 1894, Pope Leo XIII erected the Prefecture Apostolic of Alaska. He transferred all of Alaska from the Canadian Dioceses of Vancouver Island and New Westminster andappointed Tosi as the prefect apostolic. Due to poor health, Tosi was forced to resign in 1897; Leo XIII replaced him with Reverend Jean-Baptiste René from the Society of Jesus. When Rene resigned in 1904, Pope Pius X named Joseph Crimont of the Society of Jesus as what would be the last prefect