CARDIFF, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – In south-eastern Wales (England). In the Middle Ages the dioceses of Llandaff and Hereford occupied almost the same territory as the present archdiocese, which from 1623 belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of the West. In 1840 it became, together with Wales, an Apostolic Vicariate, and in 1850 it constituted the diocese of Newport. On 7 February 1916 this changed its name and became the archdiocese with Cardiff as its metropolitan see (north of the Bristol Channel).
The cathedral is dedicated to St. David. The patroness of the archdiocese is the Immaculate Conception. In the archdiocese flourish male and numerous female religious communities. The suffragan diocese is that of Menevia. It has 84 parishes, 116 diocesan priests and 61 regular clergy. The Catholics number over 90,000 out of a total population of 1,772,289 (1948).