SYRACUSE, Diocese of. - City and diocese of the State of New York (United States). The diocese was erected by Leo XIII on 20 Nov. 1886. The history of S. goes back to 1614, when the Franciscans (Recollects) obtained from Samuel de Champlain permission to celebrate the divine Sacrifice near the Onondaga or Oneida lakes for the Trochesi and perhaps also near present-day Oswego in 1615.
The Jesuit Father Le Moyne is the true founder of the Church of S. Fathers Joseph Chaumonot and Claude Dablon began the evangelization of the region and celebrated Holy Mass on 4 Nov. 1654, but the success was scant. The natives were stirred up against the French by the English and the Dutch of Albany. In 1685, James II ascended the throne and professed Catholicism. As Duke of York (1682), he had appointed Thomas Dongan governor of New York, who helped Catholics greatly, but in order not to reinforce French influence he requested English Jesuit fathers. With the fall of Dongan, Governor Bellemont had a law passed according to which all priests who remained or returned to the State of New York after 1 Nov. 1700 would be imprisoned for life. Less than 25 years later, whites began to arrive in the territory, and among them, several Catholics. The first parish of the diocese was founded by the Rev. Michael O'Gorman. The first public Mass was celebrated at Utica on 10 Jan. 1819. At the founding of the diocese, S. counted 64 diocesan priests and 10 religious, 46 parishes, 20 missions, 15 chapels and two hospitals. Today there are 349 priests (66 religious: Conventuals, fathers of the Pious Society of the Missions of St. Charles of Piacenza, Jesuits), 183 parishes, 86 chapels, 13 stations, 15 female congregations (811 nuns), 1 scholasticate (67 religious), 1 college (Le Moyne, directed by the Jesuits), 6 orphanages, 4 hospitals. The total population of S., a suffragan of New York, is (1950 census) 947,427 inhabitants, of whom 269,441 are Catholics.
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Gastone Carrière