WILMINGTON, Diocese of. - Diocese and city in the State of Delaware, U.S.A.

The diocese was erected by Pius IX on 3 March 1868 and today 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 souls, of whom 36,907 are Catholic.

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 the Rev. Patrick Kenny came to settle at Coffee Run, Delaware. The first church of Wilmington, St. Peter's, erected in 1808, later became the Cathedral.

At the time of the erection of the diocese, the first bishop, Msgr. A. Becker, found there 8 priests, 14 very poor churches and about 5,000 Catholics. Today (1952) there are 67 diocesan priests and 51 religious of 6 congregations, 45 parishes, 1 chapel, 16 missions, 4 stations, 17 seminarians, 2 scholastics, 5 orphanages, and 1 hospital.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: Th. Boemer, The Catholic Church in the United States, St. Louis-London 1930, p. 257; J. L. Mc Sweeney, in Cath. Enc., XV, pp. 646-47; The Official Catholic Directory, New York 1951, pp. 612-14; Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 454.

Gastone Carrière

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Wilmington, Diocese of

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