MENEVIA, Diocese of. - In the province of Cardiff in England, with the exception of Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire. Out of 932,480 inhabitants (1931 census) it comprised 21,350 Catholics distributed in 61 parishes, served by 75 secular priests and 130 regulars, one seminary (St Mary's College), 12 male religious communities and 28 female; in 1948 there were 141 conversions.
In 1840 this province (Principality of Wales) was divided between Newport and Shrewsbury. Then in 1895 Leo XIII renewed the apostolic vicariate of Wales (excepting the diocese of Newport), presided over by Msgr. Francis Mostyn, titular bishop of Ascalon, of Welsh and Catholic lineage; and on 12 May 1898 he created the diocese, a bishopric, of M., the Latin title of the ancient diocese of St. David's (probably derived from the Menapia of the Romans), of which Msgr. Mostyn became the first bishop. Patrons of M.: Our Lady Help of Christians, St. David and St. Winefride.
The cathedral of St. David was begun by Bishop Peter de Leia (1176-1203), with additions especially by Bishops H. Gower (1328-47) and E. Vaughan (1509-23). The relics of St. David (canonized by Callistus II) were held there in great veneration; popular tradition affirmed that two pilgrimages to St. David's were equivalent to one to Rome: « Meneviam pete, Romam adire si vis; Merces aequa tibi redditur hic et ibi; Roma semel dat quantum dat bis Menevia tantum ». The last Catholic bishop was had in 1554. The bishops of M. from 1895 were, besides Francis Mostyn (1895-1921, then archbishop of Cardiff, 1921-39), Francis Vaughan (1926-35), Michel McGrath (1935-40, then archbishop of Cardiff), Daniel Joseph Hannon (1940-46) and John Petit (1946).
The church of Our Lady of Sorrows at Wrexham serves as a "pro-cathedral". At Holywell is the miraculous spring of St. Winefride, always a goal of pilgrimages, even during the persecution. The ancient cathedrals of St. David's, Bangor and St. Asaph's are now used by Protestants; of several abbeys, such as Valle Crucis and Talley, only ruins remain. At Valle Crucis a solemn Mass was celebrated in June 1947.
Many saints have made this region famous, among them St. David, St. Non, St. Tello, St. Benos, St. Winefride martyr. After the apostasy, M. possesses the martyrs Bl. Richard Gwyn (1584), John Roberts (1610), Philip Powel (1646), John Lloyd (1679) and the venerables Humphrey Pritchard (1589), William Davies (1593), Edward Morgan (1642) and others.
The diocese is a suffragan of Cardiff. The residence is in Wrexham.