Adelaide, Archdiocese of

ADELAIDE, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - It has its center at A., capital of the province of the same name in South Australia, and now counts two suffragan dioceses: Darwin and Port Augusta.

The "free" Protestant colony of South Australia had been founded in 1836 by Colonel Light, with the exclusion, however, of Catholics and pagans. Some Catholics nevertheless found themselves among those first immigrants, and A. had in 1840 the first visit of Rev. Ullathorne of Sydney (the diocese to which A. belonged), who could not even obtain permission to celebrate in one of the schools; so that the first Mass took place in a shed, with the presence of 50 Catholics. However, already in 1841 there was a resident priest. Erected as a diocese in 1843, the first bishop, Msgr. Francis Murphy, had to struggle against the blackest poverty and above all against the lack of clergy. Slowly things changed; the priests grew in number; resources flowed in; the very scarce secular clergy was assisted by male and female religious institutes; so that in 1887 A. was proclaimed a metropolitan see.

Area of the territory, 102,000 sq. km.; pop. 550,000, of whom 55,000 are Catholics. There are 106 churches, 43 parishes; the secular clergy numbers 67 diocesan priests; the male religious orders and congregations are 13 with 90 members; the female 45 with 579. The male religious educational institutes are 63, the female 62, with a total of more than 8,000 pupils. There are furthermore hospitals, orphanages, boarding houses, hospices, homes, shelters, etc.

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