DUNKELD, DIOCESE OF. — In Scotland; it is a suffragan of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, with its see in Dundee. It covers an area of 9,505.46 sq. km. and comprises the counties of Angus, Clackmannan, the upper part of Fife, Kinross and Perth.
It has a population of 353,363, of whom 40,000 are Catholic, with 22 parishes, 49 churches, 42 diocesan priests and 19 regulars (Franciscans and Redemptorists). In addition, the diocese has the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
The diocese was constituted before 1115; thirty-five bishops are known from its foundation until 1585, when it became vacant; among them are remembered James Kennedy (1438–40), Gavin Douglas (1516–21) and John Hamilton (1545–47); the last was Robert Crichton.
The diocese was reconstituted on 4 March 1878 by Leo XIII, with the bull *Ex supremo apostolatus apice*.
The ancient cathedral of Dunkeld, situated near the River Tay, was begun in 1220 and completed at the end of the 15th century; it was seriously damaged by Robert II of Scotland (1316–90), after which part of it was converted into a Presbyterian church.