### NASHVILLE, Diocese of
In the United States of America. Covering an area of 42,022 square miles, the diocese of Nashville today (1950 census) has a population of 3,129,718, of whom 37,852 are Catholics. There are 116 diocesan priests and 29 religious priests. It has 56 parishes, 17 chapels, 30 missions, 96 stations, and 4 hospitals. The Brothers of the Christian Schools maintain a college for boys, and the Sisters of St. Dominic a college for girls.
The diocese of Nashville was erected by Gregory XVI on 28 July 1837. It resulted from a division of the diocese of Bardstown (now Louisville), which was restricted to the State of Kentucky, while Nashville covers the State of Tennessee. The first ordinary was Bishop Pius Miles, while Fr. Abell, who came from Bardstown in 1820, built the first church in Tennessee. After his first visitation of the territory of his new diocese, Bishop Miles reported that he had found no more than 300 Catholics.
The diocese became a suffragan of St. Louis on 8 October 1847, and by 1852 it already had 5,000 Catholics and 9 priests. In 1860 it was the scene of the Civil War.
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