WICHITA, DIOCESE of. - Diocese and city in the State of Kansas and in the ecclesiastical province of S. Luigi (United States of America).
The area of W., 42,915 miles, had in 1952 a total population of 704,721 inhabitants, of whom 45,468 were Catholics. There are 175 diocesan priests and 19 religious (5 congregations), 105 parishes, one male and two female congregations, 59 seminarians, 1 classical college, 1 orphanage, and 16 hospitals.
The diocese of W. was erected on 2 Aug. 1887 by dismemberment from that of Leavenworth. At that time there were 16 priests with their own churches, 23 mission churches, 9 parochial schools, and approximately 8,000 Catholics. The first bishop, Msgr. Jacomo O'Reilley, a priest of Topeka, Kansas, died before his consecration and was succeeded by Msgr. Giuseppe Giovanni Hennessy. The city of W., whose name derives from the indigenous Wichita tribe, had 20,000 inhabitants at the time of the foundation of the diocese.
In 1897 (1 July), by apostolic letters, the boundaries of the diocese were changed and 14 counties were added.
BIVL.: John J. Hennessy, s. V. in Cath. Enc., XV, pp. 616; Th. Boemer, The Catholic Church in the United States, St. Louis-Londra 1950, p. 283; The Official Catholic Directory 1951, Nuova York 1951, pp. 608-11; Ann. Pont. 1955, p. 454. Gastone Carrière