The diocese was erected on March 14, 1853, with Johannes van Hooydonk being made its first bishop.

The current bishop is Johannes Wilhelmus Maria Liesen.

In the second half of the twentieth century a rapid secularization and strong loss of religious affiliation have taken place in North Brabant.

In western North Brabant (Diocese of Breda) is the number of people associating themselves with Catholicism strongly decreased, only 52 percent of the West Brabantians identify as Roman Catholic in 2006.

[1] North Brabant is mostly Roman Catholic by tradition and still uses the term and certain traditions as a base for its cultural identity, though the vast majority of the population is now largely irreligious in practice.