The Archdiocese of Freetown (''Archidioecesis Liberae Urbis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Sierra Leone. Its

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

is the city of Freetown, the capital and most populous city of the African country. It is a metropolitan see with three

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 ...

s in its ecclesiastical province.

History

The territory was established as the Vicariate Apostolic of Sierra Leone, on 13 April 1858 by Pope Pius IX, taking territory from the Vicariate Apostolic of Two Guineas and Senegambia. It itself lost territory in 1897 to the Prefecture Apostolic of Guinea Francese and in 1903 to the Prefecture Apostolic of Liberia. The vicariate was elevated to the status of a diocese, taking the name of ''Freetown and Bo'' on 18 April 1950. In 1952, the Prefecture Apostolic of Makeni was split off from its territory. The diocese was elevated to an archdiocese on 11 November 1970, at which time also the Diocese of Kenema was split off. On 15 January 2011, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bo was split off the ''Archdiocese of Freetown and Bo'' which is called Archdiocese of Freetown since then.

Geography

The diocese covers an area of , around the Sierra Leone capital city of Freetown. The archidiocese has three

s, those of Bo, Kenema and Makeni.

Cathedral

The cathedral of the Freetown archdiocese is the Sacred Heart Cathedral,Sacred Heart Cathedral in Freetown
/ref> also sometimes called simply the Cathedral of Freetown. The cathedral is located in the Howe street of the town of Freetown. Work on its construction began in November 1884 and was dedicated on October 27, 1887. The Sacred Heart Cathedral follows the

Roman rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

Ordinaries

* Melchior-Marie-Joseph de Marion-Brésillac MEP (1858–1859) *

John Joseph O'Gorman John Joseph O'Gorman C.S.Sp. (May 8, 1866 – 1935) was an Irish member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, who served as Bishop of Freetown in Sierra Leone, its first Roman Catholic bishop.

CSSp (1903–1932) *

Bartholomew Stanislaus Wilson Bartholomew Stanislaus Wilson C.S.Sp. (1884–1938), sometimes referred to as Bartholomew Stanley Wilson, was an Irish-born Roman Catholic priest, bishop, and member of the Spiritan order. He served as Vicar Apostolic of Bagamoyo in East Africa, an ...

CSSp (1933–1936) * Ambrose Kelly CSSp (1937–1952) * Thomas Joseph Brosnahan CSSp (1952–1980) * Joseph Henry Ganda (1980–2007) * Edward Tamba Charles (2008–present)

References

External links