LEEDS, Diocese of. - City and diocese in England, suffragan of Liverpool. It has 3,354,395 inhabitants, of whom 178,000 are Catholics, distributed in 124 parishes, served by 284 diocesan priests and 53 regulars; 7 male religious communities and 62 female; in 1948 there were 709 conversions.
The diocese was formed by dismemberment from that of Beverley (1850-78) between Leeds and Middlesbrough on 20 Dec. 1878 and comprises the West Riding (western part) of Yorkshire with that part of the city of York that lies south of the river Ouse. It is placed under the patronage of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Wilfrid and St. Francis de Sales. It has 4 colleges and secondary schools for boys, and 10 for girls.
The first bishop was R. Cornthwaite, bishop of Beverley from 1861 to 1878, transferred in 1878, formerly rector of the English College in Rome (1851-57). He died in June 1890; he was succeeded by W. Gordon (1890-1911), J. R. Cowgill (1911-36), H. J. Poskitt (1936-50), who died on 19 Feb. 1950, and J. C. Heenon (Feb. 1951). In 1910 the first National Catholic Congress of England was held at Leeds, from 29 July to 2 Aug.
In this diocese there are many missions that began in the 16th century: Burghwallis, Hazlewood, Sheffield, Knaresborough, while the "Bar Convent" of York, founded in 1680, the first in England after the so-called reformation, despite persecutions, has always continued the beneficent work of the Institute of the B. V. Mary, founded by Mary Ward, eminent among the schools for English Catholic young ladies. The region of Leeds gave many martyrs to the Church, among whom are the Bl. William Lacy (1582), Robert Morton (1588), John Duckett (1644), Thomas Thwing (1680) and the Ven. Francis Ingleby, Robert Bickerdike, Edmund Sykes (1589), Edward Thwing (1600). Collateral descendants of the Ven. Ralph Grimston (1598) erected the beautiful church of Clifford (1850). Also to be noted are the beautiful churches of Sheffield (1853) and Leeds (St. Anne's, cathedral, 1904).
Bibliography3 works
Enrico Rope
LE FAVRE (LE FÈVRE), PIERRE, blessed: v. FABER (FAVRE, LEFEVRE), PIERRE.