RAPID CITY, DIOCESE OF. - A city and diocese in the State of South Dakota (U.S.A.). Suffragan of St. Paul.
It covers a territory of 43,000 square miles with a total population (1950 census) of 155,969 inhabitants. There are 113 priests, of whom 28 are religious (Benedictines, Jesuits, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart), 82 parishes, 8 chapels, 81 missions, 49 stations, 6 women’s congregations with 181 religious sisters, 16 seminarians, and 5 hospitals. The Diocese of Rapid City was first erected on 4 August 1902 under the name of the Diocese of Lead by separation from the Apostolic Vicariate of Nebraska. The latter diocese had been erected in 1859 for Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Idaho. In 1902 the territory had only 6,000 Catholics, who have now become 401,430. Pius XI, by the Apostolic Constitution Apostolici litterati of 1 August 1930, transferred the see to Rapid City.