SYRACUSE, DIOCESI of. — City and diocese of the State of New York (United States). The diocese was erected by Leo XIII on 20 November 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 Lakes Onondaga or Oneida for the Trochesi and perhaps also near present-day Oswego in 1615.
The Jesuit Fr. Le Moyne is the true founder of the Church of S. Frs. Joseph Chaumonot and Claude Dablon began the evangelization of the region and celebrated Holy Mass on 4 November 1654, but with little success. The indigenous people were incited 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 greatly assisted the Catholics; but, in order not to strengthen French influence, he requested English Jesuit fathers. With Dongan’s fall, Governor Bellemont had a law passed according to which all priests remaining in or returning to the State of New York after 1 November 1700 were to be imprisoned for life. Less than 25 years later, white settlers began arriving in the territory, 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 January 1819. At the time of the diocese’s foundation, S. had 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 Pia Società delle Missioni di S. Carlo di Piacenza, and Jesuits), 183 parishes, 86 chapels, 13 stations, 15 women’s congregations (811 sisters), 1 scholasticate (67 religious), 1 college (Le Moyne, directed by the Jesuits), 6 orphanages, and 4 hospitals. The total population of S., a suffragan diocese of New York, is (1950 census) 947,427 inhabitants, of whom 269,441 are Catholics.