Brooklyn, Diocese of (BROOKLYN, DIOCESI DI) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. III, p. 94

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

BROOKLYN, DIOCESI di. - In the State of New York (United States A.); suffragan diocese of New York. Established on 29 July 1853 by division from that of New York, the diocese includes all of Long Island, that is, four counties of the State of

New York (King, Quens, Nassau, Suffolk), which extend over an area of approximately 7,700 sq. km. This island, explored by the Spaniards at the beginning of the 16th century, was colonized only in the 17th century under the auspices of the Dutch West India Company (1636). We therefore find few traces of Catholicism before the Irish immigration that took place at the beginning of the 19th century. Through the efforts of the Irish, the first Catholic church on Long Island was established on 28 Aug. 1823. Thereafter Catholic immigration steadily increased with the contribution of other ethnic groups, especially Italian and German.

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

BIBL.: F. Mulrenan, A Brief Historical Sketch of the Cath. Church on Long Island, Nuova 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, 1790-1922, Washington 1922; F. Van Wyck, Keskochange or the First White Settlement on Long Island, Nuova York 1924; D. C. Shearer, Pontificia Americana, a Documentary Hist. of the Cath. Church in the United States, 1784-1884, Washington 1933, p. 2845; M-J Hynes, s. V. in DHG, X, cols. 843-845; The Official Catholic Directory, Nuova-York 1947, II, pp. 340-58.

Corrado Morin