The seat of the bishop is the Cathedral Parish of Saint Anthony of Padua along Quezon Street, Masbate City.

The diocese has experienced no jurisdictional changes and is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Cáceres.

When Cáceres was elevated to the status of an archdiocese on June 29, 1951, Masbate became part of the newly erected Diocese of Sorsogon.

Pope Paul VI created the Diocese of Masbate on March 23, 1968.

It was formally inaugurated on September 25, 1968, with Porfírio Rivera Iligan, a priest from the Archdiocese of Cáceres, as its first bishop.