- Formerly located in Poland (Galicia), now in Ukraine (USSR), a suffragan of Lviv.
This diocese was erected after lengthy negotiations (begun in 1850) on March 25, 1885, by dividing the archdiocese of Lviv. It included the southeastern part of Galicia (except the city of Halyč, the metropolitan title of Lviv) and all of Bukovina. After World War I, when Bukovina was annexed to Romania, the Holy See established an apostolic administration for this part of the diocese, which in 1930, according to the Romanian Concordat, was incorporated into the then-erected Diocese of Maramureș, while retaining a special vicariate general for the Ukrainian language. The first diocesan synod was celebrated in 1897, and the seminary was opened in 1907.
The first bishop of this diocese was the distinguished theologian and historian Julian Pelešz (q.v.). The second was Julian Kujilovskij (1891–99), later elected metropolitan of Lviv. The third bishop was Andrey Sheptytsky (1899–1900), subsequently metropolitan of Lviv (q.v.); the fourth was Hryhoriy Khomyshyn (1904–47), deported by the Bolsheviks to Russia (in 1945) and there died as a confessor of the faith. In 1946, the diocese of this see was officially declared schismatic, and an apostate priest (later bishop, Antoni Pelesh) occupied the episcopal see. Since then, persecution has ensued; the Catholic diocese in its organizational structure has been destroyed.
As of 1938, the diocese had: 886 churches, of which 455 were parishes; 551 priests; 90 seminarians; and 1,044,992 Eastern Catholics.
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STANLEYVILLE, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. Situated in the northeastern part of the Belgian Congo.
It was erected as an apostolic prefecture on August 3, 1904, with territory taken from the Apostolic Vicariate of the Independent or Belgian Congo (q.V. LÉOPOLDVILLE) and elevated to an apostolic vicariate on May 10, 1909. It has undergone several territorial reductions due to the creation of new missions. On March 10, 1949, it received its current name of Stanleyville, having previously been called Stanley Falls. It is entrusted to the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who are assisted by the Canons Regular of the Most Holy Savior. The vicariate covers an area of 173,385 sq. km. and has approximately 500,000 inhabitants, of whom over 140,000 are Catholics, with nearly 37,000 catechumens; there are few Protestants (about 13,000) and Muslims (about 13,000), and over 290,000 pagans. It is served by: 5 native priests; 1 diocesan priest from the Netherlands; 73 foreign priests of the Sacred Heart; 10 Canons Regular; 15 lay brothers of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, 3 of the Canons Regular, and 17 Marists; 97 foreign sisters; 11 major and 92 minor seminarians; 461 male and 44 female catechists; 20 main mission stations and 1,112 secondary ones; 20 churches and 1,112 chapels; and an impressive array of welfare institutions and schools with a very large number of students of both sexes (23,394). The various confraternities, lay charitable associations, and particularly those of Catholic Action are flourishing. As the European population grows (about 3,200 people), the missionaries must devote much care to preserving the Catholic faith among them.