GALLOWAY, DIOCESE of. - Situated in south-western Scotland. It comprises the counties of Ayr, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Wigtown, and the islands of Greater and Little Cumbrae, thus embracing an area of approximately 4,000 miles. The episcopal see is at Dumfries. The diocese has 647,000 inhabitants, of whom 27,000 are Catholics, distributed among 33 parishes served by 57 diocesan and 9 regular priests, 4 male and 8 female religious communities.
It is the oldest ecclesiastical foundation in Scotland, having been founded in 307 by St. Niviano, a Briton born on the shores of the Solway, but educated in Rome and consecrated bishop by Pope Siricio. The original title of the see was “Whitherne,” often Latinized as “Candida Casa,” on account of the white church and cathedral which St. Niviano built and dedicated to St. Martino of Tours. The last Catholic bishop, Andrea Durie, died in 1558, and the see remained vacant until 1878, when Bishop Giovanni Mac Lachlan was appointed. The diocese thus re-established is twice as extensive as it was formerly, but its Catholic population is small. G. was suffragan to York until 1472, when it was transferred under S. Andrea; in 1492 it became subject to Glasgow, and so remained until the extinction of the hierarchy under the Reformation. It is now suffragan to the new archdiocese of S. Andrea and Edimburgo. The cathedral church is dedicated to St. Andrea.