The Diocese of Venice in Florida ( la, Dioecesis Venetiae in Florida) is a

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

ecclesiastical territory or

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It was founded on June 16, 1984 with the purpose of serving the southwestern portion of the state. The Diocese of Venice includes ten counties:

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry,

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

, Lee,

Manatee Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species ...

, and

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

. As Bishop John Joseph Nevins resigned for reasons of age on January 19, 2007, he was succeeded as ordinary by Bishop Frank Joseph Dewane. The Diocese of Venice in Florida is a

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria ...

in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

of the metropolitan

Archdiocese of Miami The Archdiocese of Miami ( la, Archidioecesis Miamiensis, es, Arquidiócesis de Miami, ht, Achidyosèz Miami) is a particular church of the Catholic Church in the United States of America. Its ecclesiastical territory consists of Broward, Miami ...

History

Beginnings of Catholicism in Southern Florida

1510s: Juan Ponce de Leon and Calusa resistance to missions

The first Spanish explorers came ashore in what is now the diocese in the 16th century. Their arrival brought the first Catholic missionaries, whose purpose was to set up permanent missions in the name of Spain and the Catholic Church. Conquistador

Juan Ponce de León Juan Ponce de León (, , , ; 1474 – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' known for leading the first official European expedition to Florida and for serving as the first governor of Puerto Rico. He was born in Santervá ...

was the first European to arrive in Florida, in 1513. He explored its west coast between 1513 and 1521. Ponce de Leon encountered the resident

Calusa The Calusa ( ) were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. At the time of ...

tribe, who first welcomed the Spanish, but later objected because the explorers had desecrated their sacred places, and fought the invaders. The Calusa objected to the construction of missions, and frequently attacked them. When Ponce de Leon was injured in an attack the expedition and mission on the West Coast was abandoned.

1539-1542: Hernando de Soto's expedition

Seven years later Spanish explorer

Hernando De Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...

brought priests to Florida in an attempt to evangelize the native tribes during an exploration of the coast from 1539-1542. DeSoto led an expedition of 10 ships and 620 men, which included 12 priests. They landed near what is now

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries A settlement established by Maroons or escaped sl ...

on May 25, 1539. Mass was celebrated almost every day by the expedition priests. Later, when DeSoto landed at Shaw's Point near the mouth of Tampa Bay, the men named it "La Bahia de Espiritu Santo," in honor of the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

. The sheer number of DeSoto's forces caused the Calusa to abandon their settlements along the harbor entrance. (A memorial to the Eucharist and a Memorial Cross were built and dedicated in the area near DeSoto's landings by Bishop John J. Nevins in 1994 at

De Soto National Memorial De Soto National Memorial, in Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County west of Bradenton, Florida, commemorates the 1539 landing of Hernando de Soto (explorer), Hernando de Soto and the first extensive organized exploration by Europeans of what is ...

in Bradenton.)

1560s: Jesuit mission at Mound Key

Other efforts to bring missionaries to Florida were unsuccessful until

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (; ast, Pedro (Menéndez) d'Avilés; 15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer and conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the first regular trans-oceani ...

, founder of

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

and Governor of

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( es, La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, ...

, sought peace with the Calusa and founded a military outpost there in February 1566. Pedro Menendez sought assistance from the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, who agreed to send a small contingent to Florida. Before leaving the

San Carlos Bay San Carlos Bay is a bay located southwest of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers, Florida, at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. It connects to Pine Island Sound to the west and to Matlacha Pass National Wildlife Refuge, Matlacha Pass to the north. ...

area, Menéndez established a Jesuit mission at Mound Key near the mouth of the

Estero River Estero is a village in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,939. During the 2010 census, Estero was an unincorporated community, or census-designated place, the population at that time was 22,612. Est ...

in what is now Lee County, and left a garrison of soldiers to guard it. Called San Antonio de Carlos, it was the first such mission in the Spanish

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

and the first Catholic presence within the territory of the present Diocese of Venice in Florida. Father

Juan Rogel The Diocese of Venice in Florida ( la, Dioecesis Venetiae in Florida) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Florida. It was founded on June 16, 1984 with the purpose of serving the southwestern portion ...

and Brother Francisco de Villareal spent the winter studying the Calusa language, and proceeded to work among the tribe in southern Florida. The establishment there of a fort and settlement at Mound Key was the first such effort to colonize the area. A chapel was built at the Jesuit mission in 1567. Due to frequent conflict with the Calusa, the Mound Key area was abandoned by the Spanish in 1569.

Post Civil War

After the end of the

US Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

in 1865, missionaries from

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

, St. Augustine, and

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

, began visiting the areas south of

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

that later became the Diocese of Venice. In 1889 the care of the area within the Diocese fell under the jurisdiction of the Jesuit Fathers from Tampa, who made regular visits to Bradenton, Fort Myers, Arcadia, and adjacent missions. The first missions and Catholic communities within the current Diocese of Venice in Florida were located at Sacred Heart in Bradenton (1868), Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (later St. Francis Xavier) in Fort Myers (1878), St. Paul in Arcadia (1882), Sacred Heart in Punta Gorda (1888), St. Martha in Sarasota (1889), St. Michael in Wauchula (1915), St. Joseph in Bradenton (1915), and St. Catherine in Sebring (1918).

Erection of the Diocese

Diocese of Venice in Florida Pastoral Center

The Diocese of Venice in Florida was erected by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 1984 from parts of the

, the

Diocese of Orlando The Diocese of Orlando ( la, Dioecesis Orlandensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Florida. It encompasses about spanning Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Marion, Lake, Volusia, Brevard, Polk, and Sumt ...

, and the Diocese of St. Petersburg; Bishop John J. Nevins was the founding Bishop.

Bishops

Bishops of Venice

# John Joseph Nevins (1984-2007) # Frank Joseph Dewane (2007–present,

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

2006-2007)

Educational institutions

High schools

Bishop Verot High School Bishop Verot High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Fort Myers, Florida. It is located in the Diocese of Venice, Florida. History Bishop Verot Catholic High School was established in 1962 as Fort Myers Central Catholic High Scho ...

, Fort Myers * Cardinal Mooney High School, Sarasota * St. John Neumann High School, Naples * Rhodora J. Donahue Academy, Ave Maria

Elementary schools

* St. Charles Borromeo School, Port Charlotte * St. Ann School, Naples * St. Elizabeth Seton School, Naples * St. Catherine Catholic School, Sebring * St. Andrew School, Cape Coral * St. Francis Xavier School, Fort Myers * St. Joseph School, Bradenton * Epiphany Cathedral School, Venice * Incarnation School, Sarasota * St. Martha School, Sarasota * Rhodora J. Donahue Academy, Ave Maria

Special needs schools

* St. Mary Academy at Bishop Nevins Academy, Sarasota

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Venice Official Site

Detailed parish information
{{authority control Christian organizations established in 1984

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

1984 establishments in Florida