SALT LAKE, DIOCESI di. - Diocese and city in the State of Utah (U.S.A.). Suffragan of S. Francisco.
It now covers an area of 84,900 sq. mi., with a total population (1950 census) of 686,830 inhabitants and a Catholic population of 26,165. Thirty-three diocesan priests and 23 religious (Paulists, Trappists, Franciscans, Dominicans, Benedictines) exercise the sacred ministry in 29 parishes, 15 chapels, and 9 missions. There are 6 women’s congregations with 175 sisters, and the diocese has 19 seminarians. Its institutions include 1 college, 2 high schools, 1 orphanage, and 2 hospitals. The diocese of S. L. was first erected as an apostolic vicariate on 23 Nov. 1886 for the whole State of Utah and an important part of Nevada; it was then raised to a diocese on 27 Jan. 1891 and subsequently divided on 27 March 1931, when the Nevada section was incorporated into the diocese of Reno.
The history of the Catholic Church practically begins when Fr. Scanlan settled in S. L. in 1873, as the only priest in this territory.