LITTLE ROCK, Diocese of. - City and diocese in the State of Arkansas (U.S.A.). Its boundaries coincide with those of the State of Arkansas.

The diocese has an area of 53,102 square miles with 1,949,387 inhabitants, of whom 36,943 are Catholics. It has 103 parishes, 33 chapels, 36 missions and 44 stations served by 113 diocesan priests and 52 regulars, one seminary, 6 male religious communities among which is the Benedictine abbey of New Subiaco, and 12 female communities; one college, 10 diocesan and parochial high schools; 59 parochial schools; in 1949 there were 544 conversions.

At the end of the 18th century the white population in Arkansas barely reached 400 souls; the area was visited for the first time in 1820 by Msgr. Dubourg; the first secular priest who established the mission of St. Mary five miles from present-day Pine Bluff was the Rev. R. Bole, who in 1838 obtained the opening of the first Catholic school in Arkansas. L. R. was elevated to a diocese by Pius IX on 28 Nov. 1843; the first bishop was Msgr. A. Byrne (d. 1862).

The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Andrew. The first diocesan Synod was held on 16 Feb. 1909. The diocese is a suffragan of New Orleans.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: J. M. Lucey, s. v. in Cath. Enc., VII, p. 295; The Official catholic Directory, 1930, New York 1930, pp. 413-16.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec7_little_rock_diocesi_di, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Little Rock, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {1426}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/little-rock-diocesi-di} }

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Little Rock, Diocese of

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