OWENSBORO, DIOCESE of. – City and diocese in the State of Kentucky, U.S.A. The diocese, erected on 23 February 1938 by Pius XI with the apostolic constitution Universi catholici orbis, covers an area of 12,502 sq. miles in the 32 counties of western Kentucky.
A suffragan see 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.
O. resulted from a division 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, Nuova York 1886–1892; The Official catholic directory 1950, there 1950, pp. 450–51. Gastone Carrière