COLUMBUS, Diocese of. – Capital of the State of Ohio in the United States and see of a suffragan diocese of Cincinnati, comprising as its territory the southeastern part of Ohio, namely 23 counties of the state, with an area of 11,310 square miles.
In 1947, in a population of 1,169,161 inhabitants, there were 105,100 Catholics, under the care of 168 diocesan priests, 100 regular clergy, 8 parishes, 27 chapels, 21 missions, one major and one minor diocesan seminary. A Pontifical College Josephinum for the training of priests destined for needy dioceses, 15 high schools, and 50 parochial schools. In 1946 there were 2,876 conversions. Moreover, 8 male and 19 female religious communities operate in the diocese, with flourishing educational institutions.
Within the boundaries of this diocese, the Dominicans built at the beginning of the 19th century the first Catholic chapel in Ohio, that of St. Joseph (Sommerset) in Perry County. At that time all of Ohio had only one diocese, Bardstown (now St. Louis); but shortly afterward, in 1821, the see of Cincinnati was erected as a diocese. As colonization and immigration brought many Catholics to these regions, the Holy See, at the request of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866), separated them from the suffragan archdiocese with see in Cincinnati.