WILMINGTON, DIOCESI di. - Diocese and city in the State of Delaware, U. S. A.
The diocese was erected by Pius IX on 3 March 1868 and now comprises the State of Delaware, two counties in Virginia, and 9 counties in Maryland, that is, an area of 1,960 square miles in Delaware, 3,461 in Maryland, and 790 in Virginia, with a total population of 535,947 inhabitants, of whom 36,907 are Catholics.
The first Catholic mission was established in 1704 at Bohemia Manor in Cecil County, Maryland, by the Jesuits, who were alone on the peninsula until 1808, when Rev. Patricio Kenny came to settle at Coffee Run, Delaware. The first church in Wilmington, St. Peter’s, built in 1808, later became the Cathedral.
At the time of the erection of the diocese, the first bishop, Mons. A. Becker, found there 8 priests, 14 very poor churches, and approximately 5,000 Catholics. Today (1952) there are 67 diocesan priests and 51 religious belonging to 6 congregations, 45 parishes, 1 chapel, 16 missions, 4 stations, 17 seminarians, 2 scholastics, 5 orphanages, and 1 hospital.