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. miles) and the western part of Florida for 7,281 sq. miles, for a total area of 58,821 sq. miles. 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, 60 stations, served by 124 diocesan priests and 178 regulars; it has 15 male religious communities, among which is the abbey of St. Bernard at Brookside, and 29 female ones; 4 seminaries and scholasticates, 3 colleges, among which is the flourishing Spring's Hill College of the Jesuits; 15 diocesan and parochial High-Schools, and 60 parochial schools; in 1949 there were 797 conversions.
It owes its name to Maavila, a capital city of the Indian Gulf, conquered by the Spaniard Hernando de Soto in 1540. From then until the beginning of the 18th century the Mississippi valley was served by Dominican, Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries, until the erection of the first parish on 20 July 1703 in Fort St. Louis de la M. founded by the explorer Iberville; but the parish was under the jurisdiction of the Seminary for Foreign Missions of Paris until 25 Apr. 1793, when Pius VI created the diocese of St. Louis (Louisiana and Florida), today New Orleans. Pope Leo XII erected M. as an apostolic prefecture in 1824 and in the following year as an apostolic vicariate.
Pius VIII on 15 May 1829 created the diocese of M. The first bishop was Msgr. M. Portier (d. 1859); his successors were Msgr. J. Quinlan (1859-83), Msgr. D. Manucy (1884-85); J. O'Sullivan (1885-96); E. P. Allen (1897-1926); J. J. Toolen from 1927.
The diocese is a suffragan of New Orleans. The Cathedral is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.
Bibliography2 works
Enrico Josi