MOBILE, DIOCESE of. — City and diocese in the State of Alabama, in the United States of America.
It comprises the State of Alabama (51,540 sq. mi.) and the western part of Florida, covering 7,281 sq. mi., for a total area of 58,821 sq. mi. The diocese has a population of 3,048,891 inhabitants (1940 census), of whom 70,739 are Catholics (1950); it has 101 parishes, 69 chapels, 61 missions, and 60 stations, served by 124 diocesan priests and 178 religious; it has 15 men’s religious communities, including the Abbey of S. Bernardo at Brookside, and 29 women’s communities; 4 seminaries and houses of studies, 3 colleges, including the flourishing Jesuit Spring's Hill College; 15 diocesan and parochial high schools, and 60 parochial schools; in 1949 there were 797 conversions.
It derives its name from Maavila, the capital city of the Indian Gulf, conquered by the Spaniard Hernando de Soto in 1540. From then until the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Mississippi Valley was assisted by Dominican, Jesuit, and Capuchin missionaries, until the erection of the first parish on 20 July 1703 at Fort St. Louis de la M., founded by the explorer Iberville; but the parish remained dependent on the Seminary for Foreign Missions of Paris until 25 April 1793, when Pius VI created the diocese of St. Louis (Louisiana and Florida), now New Orleans. Pope Leo XII erected M. as the seat of an apostolic prefecture in 1824 and, the following year, as the seat of an apostolic vicariate.
Pius VIII created the diocese of M. on 15 May 1829. The first bishop was Mgr. M. Portier (d. in 1859); his successors were Mgr. J. Quinlan (1859–83), Mgr. D. Manucy (1884–85); J. O'Sullivan (1885–96); E. P. Allen (1897–1926); and J. J. Toolen from 1927.
The diocese is suffragan to New Orleans. The Cathedral is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.