CARDIFF, ARCHDIOCESE of. - In south-eastern Wales (England). In the Middle Ages the dioceses of Llandaf and Hereford occupied almost the same territory as the present archdiocese, which from 1623 formed part of the western apostolic vicariate. In 1840 it became, together with Wales, an apostolic vicariate, and in 1850 it constituted the diocese of Newport. On 7 February 1916 it changed its name and became an archdiocese, with Cardiff (north of the Bristol Channel) as its metropolitan see.
The Cathedral is dedicated to St David; the Patroness of the diocese is the Immaculate Conception. Male religious communities and numerous female ones flourish in the archdiocese. The diocese of Menevia is its suffragan. It has 84 parishes, 116 diocesan priests and 61 regulars. Catholics number more than 90,000 out of a total population of 1,772,289 (1948).