OWENSBORO, DIOCESE OF. - City and diocese in the State of Kentucky, U.S.A. The diocese was erected on 23 February 1938 by Pius XI through the apostolic constitution *Universi catholici orbis*, and covers an area of 12,502 square miles in the 32 counties of western Kentucky.
A suffragan of Louisville, it has a population of 647,806 inhabitants (1940), with only 32,930 Catholics and 63 diocesan and religious priests. There are 58 parishes, 22 chapels, 4 missions, and 2 hospitals.
OWENSBORO resulted from a division of the diocese of Louisville, which had become too large, and the early history of the diocese coincides with that of Louisville.
BIBL.: AAS, 30 (1938), pp. 256-58; J. G. Shea, *History of the Catholic Church in the United States*, New York 1886-1892; *The Official Catholic Directory 1950*, ibid. 1950, pp. 450-51. Gastone Carrière