KIELCE, DIOCESE OF. — Founded in 1805 by Pius VI, by detaching territory from the dioceses of Kraków, Chełm, and Gniezno. The first bishop was Wojciech de Bożawola Górski. Suppressed in 1818 under the agreement between Pius VII and Tsar Alexander I, the episcopal see was transferred to Sandomierz and re-established by Leo XIII on 28 December 1882. The first bishop after the restoration was Tomasz Kuliański. It is a suffragan of Kraków.
Area: 985 sq. km. Catholics: 830,000. Parishes: 238. Churches: 477. Diocesan priests: 364, plus 8 priests from the dioceses of Lwów, Łuck, Pińsk, and Wilno occupied by the Soviets and other dioceses. Regular priests: 23. Religious women: 325. Male religious houses: 5, with 34 members; female: 52, with 411 members. Seminaries: 5, with 58 minor seminarians; 44 minor seminarians. Male educational institutions: 12, with 983 pupils; female: 14, with 1,103 pupils. Charitable, welfare, and care institutions: 33, with 12,000 residents.
Seven churches were destroyed, thirteen damaged, and one closed forever during the German occupation. Thirteen diocesan priests perished during that occupation, either massacred or dying in prison or concentration camps.
Pilgrimage centres: Jędrzejów, Piekoszów, Przewinia, Piotrkowice. The cathedral was founded as a collegiate church in 1171 by the bishop of Kraków, Gedeon; the prevailing style today is that of the 17th and 18th centuries. Notable churches: St Adalbert’s, built in the 18th century on the site of the old 10th-century church; the Holy Trinity, 17th century; on Mount Karczówka, 1624, founded by Bishop Marcin Szyszkowski of Kraków. In Kielce there is a bishops’ castle built by Bishop Zadzik in 1638–42 in Renaissance style; the castle houses a gallery of portraits of the bishops of Kraków.