BROOKLYN, DIOCESI DI - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. III, p. 94

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

BROOKLYN, Diocese of. - In the State of New York (U.S.A.); a suffragan diocese of New York. Erected on 29 July 1853 by separation from the Diocese of New York, the diocese comprises all of Long Island, namely four counties of the State of New York (Kings, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk), which extend over an area of approximately 7,700 sq. km. This island, explored by the Spanish at the beginning of the 16th century, was colonized only in the 17th century under the auspices of the Dutch West India Company (1636). Hence, few traces of Catholicism are found before the Irish immigration that occurred at the beginning of the 19th century. Through the efforts of the Irish, the first Catholic church on Long Island was established on 28 August 1823. From then on, Catholic immigration increased steadily with the contribution of other ethnic groups, especially Italian and German.

The Diocese of Brooklyn has 1,153,467 Catholics out of a total population of 4,600,022, one auxiliary bishop, 1,060 secular priests and 283 regular clergy, 300 parishes (1948), and one university.

BIBL.: F. Mulrenan, A Brief Historical Sketch of the Cath. Church on Long Island, New York 1871; J. G. Shea, Hist. of the Cath. Church in the United States, IV, ibid. 1892; T. F. Meehan, s. V. in The Cath. Enc., II, pp. 798-802; Anon., s. V. ibid., XVII, p. 130; J. H. O' Donnell, The Cath. Hierarchy of the United States, 1790-1927, Washington 1922; F. Van Wyck, Kieshachange or the First White Settlement on Long Island, New York 1924; D. C. Shearer, Pontificia Americana, a Documentary Hist. of the Cath. Church in the United States, 1584-1884, Washington 1933, p. 2845; M. Ilynes, s. V. in DHG, X, cols. 845-845; The Official Catholic Directory, New York 1947, II, pp. 340-58.