WHEELING, Diocese of. - Diocese and city in the State of West Virginia (United States of America). The diocese of W., which covers a territory of 21,355 sq km in the State of West Virginia and 7,817 in the State of Virginia, has a total population of 2,481,848 inhabitants, of whom only 92,357 are Catholics; it has 106 diocesan priests, 46 religious of 9 different congregations, 85 parishes, 26 chapels, 68 missions, 28 stations, 21 female congregations (510 nuns), 29 seminarians, 4 orphanages, 9 hospitals.

The first pastor of W. in 1829 was the Rev. Francis Rolf, but some priests had already visited the territory. W. was elevated to city status in 1795, and was already an episcopal see (23 July 1850) when the diocese of Richmond was divided, whose western part became the new diocese. Msgr. Richard Whelan, bishop of Richmond, was appointed first bishop. At the time of its foundation, the diocese had only 4 churches, 2 priests and 5,000 or 6,000 faithful scattered over an area of 20,000 square miles. At the death of Msgr. Whelan, in 1866, the diocese already counted 23 churches, 16 priests and 8 seminarians.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: J. Gilmary Shea, History of the Cath. Church in the United States, IV, New York 1892, pp. 435-39; E. E. Weber, s. v. in Cath. Enc., XV, p. 608; Th. Roemer, The Cath. Church in the United States, St. Louis-London 1950, p. 228; The Official Catholic Directory, New York 1951, pp. 604-607; Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 453.

Gastone Carrière

@incollection{ec12_wheeling_diocesi_di, author = {Carrière, Gastone}, title = {Wheeling, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1678}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/wheeling-diocesi-di} }

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Wheeling, Diocese of

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