NEWARK, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – A city and archdiocese of the United States of America, erected as a diocese by Pius IX in 1853 for the State of New Jersey.
Today it has a population of 2,570,892 inhabitants, of whom 1,072,592 are Catholics, spread over an area of 531 square miles. There are 856 priests, including 274 religious belonging to 14 different congregations. Among its institutions are: 1 seminary, 3 colleges and universities (Seton Hall University), 14 orphanages, 9 hospitals, 3 homes for the elderly and one for the blind.
A suffragan of New York, the diocese was later divided to form those of Trenton (15 July 1881), Paterson (16 Dec. 1937) and Camden (9 Dec. 1937), which in 1937 became suffragans of Newark, elevated to an archdiocese. Catholic parishes had existed there since 1672, and the territory was visited by the Jesuit missionaries Harvey and Gage; but the spirit of the colony was always anti-Catholic, even after the “religious tolerance” law of 1697. The first parishes in the State were St. Francis in Trenton (1814) and St. John’s in Newark (1828). During the 19th century the number of Catholics increased, and Newark was then separated from New York. The first bishop was Mgr James Roosevelt Bayley, consecrated on 30 Oct. 1853.