Paterson, Diocese of (PATERSON, DIOCESI DI) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, p. 593

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

PATERSON, diocese of. - City and diocese in the state of New Jersey, in the United States of America.

Article illustration — PATMOS - The bell tower of the monastery of St. John.
(photo Alinari)

The diocese of P. [Paterson], a suffragan of Newark, was erected by Pius XI with the apostolic constitution Recta cuiusvis in orbe dioeceseos of 9 Dec. 1937 (AAS, 30 [1938], pp. 253-55), by separation from the diocese of Newark.

The new diocese covers an area of 1,214 square miles with a total population of 536,729 inhabitants, of whom 157,639 are Catholics. P. today has 260 priests, of whom 138 are religious belonging to 8 religious congregations; 97 parishes, 75 churches, 16 missions, 6 seminaries and religious schools, 1 college (College of St. Elizabeth), 3 orphanages, 5 general hospitals and 2 specialized hospitals. There are 23 female congregations.

The early history of this diocese is identified with that of the diocese of New York, to which P. belonged until 1853 (the year of the erection of Newark) and with that of the diocese of Newark until the latter’s separation.

BIBL.: J. G. Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the U. S., New York 1890-92; The Official Catholic Directory, 1950, ibid. 1950, pp. 452-56. Gastone Carrière