The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio is an

archdiocese In 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 provinces were administratively associate ...

of the

Catholic Church in the United States With 23 percent of the United States' population , the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided i ...

, and sui juris

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 Jo ...

in full communion with the

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. It encompasses in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio had a self-reported 2018 population of 796,954, up from 728,001 in 2014. The archdiocese includes the city of

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

and the following counties: Val Verde, Edwards, Real, Kerr, Gillespie, Kendall,

Comal COMAL (''Common Algorithmic Language'') is a computer programming language developed in Denmark by Børge R. Christensen and Benedict Løfstedt and originally released in 1975. COMAL was one of the few structured programming languages that was ...

Guadalupe Guadalupe or Guadeloupe may refer to: Places Bolivia * Guadalupe, Potosí Brazil * Guadalupe, Piauí, a municipality in the state of Piauí * Guadalupe, Rio de Janeiro, a neighbourhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro Colombia * Guadalupe, A ...

, Gonzales, Uvalde,

Kinney Kinney may mean: People * Abbot Kinney, a developer and conservationist *Antoinette Kinney, a Utah state senator * Asa Kinney, American pioneer and politician * Bob Kinney, an American professional basketball player * Charles Kinney, an Ohio polit ...

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

, Bexar,

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender *Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Rod ...

, Karnes, Frio, Atascosa, Bandera County, and the portion of

McMullen McMullen is a surname with predominantly Irish origins but also with some Scottish history. It derives from root forenames such as: Maolain, Maelan "Hillock" and Meallain "Pleasant". All of these forenames have over time evolved to the collater ...

north of the

Nueces River The Nueces River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas, about long. It drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande. ''Nueces'' ...

. On August 28, 1874, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston was divided and the northern territory was canonically erected by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

as the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Antonio. Originally part of the Ecclesiastical Province of New Orleans, it was subsequently elevated on August 3, 1926, to a

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

archdiocese. The archbishop of San Antonio also serves as the metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of San Antonio with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio overseeing the following

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

dioceses: Amarillo,

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

, Fort Worth, Laredo, Lubbock, and San Angelo. All of Texas' dioceses had been suffragan sees under San Antonio until December 2004 when

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 ...

created the new Ecclesiastical Province of Galveston-Houston and elevated the

Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston In 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 provinces were administratively associate ...

to a metropolitan see.

History

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio was erected as a diocese on August 28, 1874, under the then Diocese of Galveston. It was elevated to an archdiocese on August 3, 1926. In 2010, it had 138

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

, 34

missions Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion * Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

and two pastoral centers. In 2018, it reported 139 parishes, 5 hospitals, 3 health care centers, 3 orphanages, 16 nurseries, 10 high schools, and 30 elementary schools. With the appointment of Archbishop José Horacio Gómez as the Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles, its cathedral was considered

sede vacante ''Sede vacante'' ( in Latin.) is a term for the state of a diocese while without a bishop. In the canon law of the Catholic Church, the term is used to refer to the vacancy of the bishop's or Pope's authority upon his death or resignation. H ...

until October 14, 2010. On October 14, 2010,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

appointed Gustavo Garcia-Siller as archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio. On January 31, 2019, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio released a list of 56 Catholic clergy who were "credibly accused" of committing acts of sex abuse as early as 1940.

Bishops

The following are lists of ordinaries (bishops and archbishops of the diocese) and auxiliary bishops, and their years of service. They are followed by other priests of this diocese who became bishops.

Bishops of San Antonio

# Anthony Dominic Ambrose Pellicer (1874–1880) #

John Claude Neraz John Claude Neraz (January 12, 1828 – November 15, 1894) was a French-born clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of San Antonio from 1881 until his death in 1894. Biography John Claude Neraz was born in Anse, Rhône, ...

(1881–1894) # John Anthony Forest (1895–1911) # John William Shaw (1911–1918; Coadjutor Bishop 1910-1911), appointed Archbishop of New Orleans #

Arthur Jerome Drossaerts Arthur Jerome Drossaerts (September 11, 1862 – September 8, 1940) was a Dutch-American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of San Antonio from 1918 until his death. Biography Arthur Drossaerts was born in Breda to ...

(1918–1926), elevated to Archbishop

Archbishops of San Antonio

(1926–1940) #

Robert Emmet Lucey Robert Emmet Lucey (March 16, 1891 – August 1, 1977) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Amarillo in Texas from 1934 to 1941 and as the second archbishop of Archdiocese of San A ...

(1941–1969) #

Francis James Furey Francis James Furey (February 22, 1905 – April 23, 1979) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania from 1960 to 1863, as bishop of the Diocese of ...

(1969–1979) # Patrick Fernández Flores (1979–2004) # Jose Horacio Gómez Velasco (2004–2010), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop and later Archbishop of Los Angeles #

Gustavo Garcia-Siller Gustavo is the Latinate form of a Germanic male given name with respective prevalence in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. It has been a common name for Swedish monarchs since the reign of Gustav Vasa. It is derived from Gustav /ˈɡʊstɑːv/, al ...

, M.Sp.S. (2010–present)

Auxiliary Bishops

Stephen Aloysius Leven Stephen Aloysius Leven (April 30, 1905 – June 28, 1983) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of San Angelo from 1969 to 1979. Biography Early life and education Stephen Leven was born in Blackwell, Okl ...

(1955–1969), appointed Bishop of San Angelo * Patrick Fernández Flores (1970–1978), appointed

Bishop of El Paso The Diocese of El Paso ( la, Dioecesis Elpasensis, es, Diócesis de El Paso) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in West Texas. Covering , it encompasses the Texas counties of El Paso, Brewster, ...

and later Archbishop of San Antonio * Hugo Mark Gerbermann, M.M. (1975–1982) * Raymundo Joseph Peña (1976–1980), appointed

and later Bishop of Brownsville *

Charles Victor Grahmann Charles Victor Grahmann (July 15, 1931 – August 14, 2018) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Dallas in Texas from 1990 to 2007. He also served as bishop of the Diocese of Victori ...

(1981–1982), appointed

Bishop of Victoria The Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong was (from 1849 to 1951) the Ordinary of a corporation sole including Hong Kong and South China that ministered to 20,000 Anglicans. Bishops *18491865 (ret.): George SmithHandbook to the Diocese of Victoria (Hong K ...

and later Bishop of Dallas *

Ricardo Ramirez Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portug ...

, C.S.B (1981–1982), appointed Bishop of Las Cruces *

Bernard Ferdinand Popp Bernard Ferdinand Popp (December 6, 1917 – June 27, 2014) was an American bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Popp was born in Nada, Texas in 1917. He was ordained a priest on February 24, 1943, in San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") ...

(1983–1993) * Edmond Carmody (1988–1992), appointed Bishop of Tyler and later Bishop of Corpus Christi * Joseph Anthony Galante (1992–1994), appointed Bishop of Beaumont and later Coadjutor Bishop of Dallas and Bishop of Camden * John Yanta (1994–1997), appointed Bishop of Amarillo * Thomas Flanagan (1998–2005) * Patrick Zurek (1998–2008), appointed Bishop of Amarillo *

Oscar Cantú Oscar Cantú (born December 5, 1966) is a Mexican-American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of San Jose in California since 2018. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces in New Mexico fr ...

(2008–2013), appointed Bishop of Las Cruces * Michael Joseph Boulette (2017–present) *

Gary W. Janak Gary Wayne Janak (born March 22, 1962) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was appointed as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of San Antonio in Texas in 2021. Biography Early life Gary Janek was born on March 22, ...

(2021–present)

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

* Mariano Simon Garriga, appointed Coadjutor Bishop in 1936 and later Bishop of Corpus Christi * Sidney Matthew Metzger, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Santa Fe in 1939 and later Coadjutor Bishop and

* Laurence Julius FitzSimon, appointed Bishop of Amarillo in 1941 * John Louis Morkovsky, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Amarillo in 1955, later Bishop of Amarillo, Coadjutor Bishop of Galveston-Houston, Bishop of Galveston-Houston *

Charles Edwin Herzig Charles Edwin Herzig (August 14, 1929 – September 7, 1991) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Tyler in Texas from 1987 until his death in 1991. Biography Charles Herzig wa ...

, appointed Bishop of Tyler in 1986 * Gerald Richard Barnes, appointed Auxiliary Bishop in 1992 and later Bishop of San Bernardino * José Arturo Cepeda Escobedo, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit in 2011

Education

; Catholic Universities * Our Lady of the Lake University * St. Mary's University * University of the Incarnate Word ;High schools * Antonian College Preparatory High School, Castle Hills (Est. 1964) * Central Catholic Marianist High School, San Antonio (Est. 1852) * Holy Cross of San Antonio, San Antonio (Est. 1957) * Incarnate Word High School, San Antonio (Est. 1881) *

Our Lady of the Hills High School Our Lady of the Hills College Prep (OLH, OLH College Prep) is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Kerrville, Texas. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio. Background Feasibility studies were conducted in local and s ...

, Kerrville (Est. 2013) * Providence High School, San Antonio (Est. 1951) *

St. Anthony Catholic High School St. Anthony Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school located in the Monte Vista Historic District in Midtown San Antonio, Texas, United States.St. Gerard Catholic High School St. Gerard Catholic High School was a private Catholic high school in San Antonio, Texas. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio. St. Gerard was established in 1927 and closed in 2022. College dual credit Ninety-one percen ...

, San Antonio (Est. 1927) * John Paul II Catholic High School, Schertz (Est. 2009) ;Former high schools * St. Francis Academy - High school for girls * St. Mary's School by the Riverwalk (1910–2004)

Province of San Antonio

See '' List of the Catholic bishops of the United States''

References

External links

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio Official Site
*
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio Official Site
(Archive)
Archdiocese of San Antonio Schools

Archdiocese of San Antonio
(Archives) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of San Antonio Organizations based in San Antonio