Detroit, Archdiocese of (DETROIT, ARCIDIOCESI DI) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. IV, p. 871

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

DETROIT, ARCHDIOCESE of. — In the State of Michigan in the United States of America. Its territory of approx. 13,800 sq km comprises the counties of Lapeer, Lenawee, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne, in southeastern Michigan, and it has as suffragans the dioceses of the same state, namely: Gran Rapids, Marquette, Lansing, and Saginaw. In 1948, out of a population of more than 3,113,503 inhabitants, the archdiocese had approximately 900,000 Catholics, under the direction of 563 diocesan priests and 281 religious priests, with 226 parishes, 60 chapels, 16 missions, 2 diocesan seminaries, one university, 5 colleges, 63 high schools, and 164 parish schools.

Christianity was introduced into Michigan as early as 1642 through the work of Jesuit missionaries from Canada. In 1671 the first chapel for whites was built at S. Ignazio; in 1688, after France had officially taken possession of it, Fort S. Giuseppe was built at D., where in 1700

Article illustration — (phot. U.S.I.S.) DETROIT — View.

Lamothe-Cadillac brought with him a number of French-Canadian families. On 26 July 1701, the Franciscan Costantino de l’Halle blessed there the church of S. Anna, which is the mother church of the region and whose parish registers, unlike those of the other ancient parishes of the United States, are still intact. It was first served by the Franciscans, then by the Sulpicians, remaining under English dominion and under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Québec until 1796. In that year, owing to political changes, D. came under the authority of the bishop of Baltimore, who entrusted pastoral care to the French Sulpicians, given the nationality of the faithful. At that time the parish of D. included all of Michigan and most of Wisconsin, so that under the American regime its first pastor, G. Richard, became the organizer of the Church in these regions and co-founder of the University of Michigan.

Indeed, he was the first and only priest elected as a member of Congress (for Michigan in 1823). Meanwhile, however, D. had passed in 1822 from the diocese of Bardstown (Louisville) to the new diocese of Cincinnati, until on 8 March 1833 it was established as a suffragan diocese of Baltimore for the entire territory of Michigan. The first bishop was Msgr. Federico Rese. Subsequently, the dioceses of Milwaukee (1844), Sault Ste-Marie and Marquette (1857), Grand Rapids (1882), Lansing (1937), Marquette (1937), and Saginaw (1938) were formed from D. On 22 May 1937, D. was elevated to a metropolitan see.

The archdiocese currently has a large number of Polish parishes and several Italian ones.

BIBL.: J. G. Shea, History of the catholic Church in the United States, III, Nuova York 1890, pp. 628-37; IV, ivi 1892, pp. 179-87 and 207-12; J. H. O'Donnell, The catholic hierarchy of the United States 1790-1922, Washington 1922, V. indice; P. Guilday, Life and time of John Carroll, archbishop of Baltimore (1735-1815), Nuova York 1932, V. indice; D. C. Shearer, Pontificia americana... 1784-1884, Washington 1933, V. indice; AAS, 28 (1937), pp. 391-93; T. F. Meehan, s. V. in Cath. Enc., IV, pp. 758-60; anon., s. V. ibid., suppl., p. 256; The Official catholic directory, 1947, parte 2°, Nuova York 1947, pp. 92-104. Corrado Morin.