See Diocese of Alexandria for namesakesFormer names: Diocese of Natchitoches (1853-1910), Diocese of Alexandria (1910-1977), Diocese of Alexandria-Shreveport (1977-1986).'' The Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the state of Louisiana in the United States. Its territory spans Avoyelles, Rapides, Vernon, Natchitoches, Winn, Caldwell, Madison, Franklin, Tensas, Concordia, Catahoula, LaSalle, and Grant civil parishes, an area of 27,810 km². As of 2014, it had a Catholic population of 42,929 (11.2% of 383,421 total) in 50 parishes with 71 priests (61 diocesan, 10 religious), 19 deacons, 43 lay religious (14 brothers, 29 sisters) and 10 seminarians. The Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana's cathedral is St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Alexandria, Louisiana. It also has a former Cathedral and Minor Basilica: the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, in Natchitoches, Louisiana. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of New Orleans. History Antonio Margil was the first priest to minister within the territory now forming the diocese. From the Ays Indians, west of the Sabine river, Father Margil heard of the Adayes Indians, and in March, 1717, he located them near Spanish Lake, in what became Sabine Parish, Louisiana, founded the mission of San Miguel de Linares and built there probably the first church in Louisiana, for according to the historian Martin, when Pere Charlevoix reached New Orleans in 1721, he found there "about 100 cabins, two or three dwelling houses and a miserable storehouse which had been at first occupied as a chapel, a shed being now used for that purpose". Leaving Father Gusman in charge, Father Margil journeyed on foot to Natchitoches to minister to the French Catholics there, and then went back to Texas. In 1718, during the brief war with Spain, Blondel, the French Commandant at Natchitoches, invaded the Adayes mission, plundered it and carried away the church vestments. Father Margil heard of it, and in 1721 came back, hunted up the Adayes who had taken refuge in the forests for fear of the French, rebuilt their church, which he dedicated to Our Lady of the Pillar, the patroness of the expedition. For many years afterward the Adayes mission was attended from San Antonio by the Franciscans, who attended also the missions of Nacogdoches and St. Augustin, Texas. In 1725 there were 50 Catholic families at Natchitoches. In 1728 Father Maximin, a