![Historic Old St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Historic_Old_St._John%27s_Church%2C_Utica_New_York.jpg)
The Diocese of Syracuse 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 ...
in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The of Syracuse includes the territory of seven counties of Central and South Central New York State: Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego. 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 located in
Syracuse
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
*Syracuse, Indiana
* Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
.
On June 4, 2019,
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
appointed
Douglas Lucia to be the next Bishop of Syracuse.
Lucia was consecrated to the episcopacy and installed as bishop on August 8, 2019. The Diocese of Syracuse 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 New York
The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroug ...
.
History
Within the area that now makes up the Diocese of Syracuse, missionary activity was first recorded in 1654. During a brief truce between the French and the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
, French
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
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, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
Simon Le Moyne
Father Simon Le Moyne, S.J. (22 October 1604 – 24 November 1665) was a Jesuit priest who became involved with the mission to the Hurons in the New World. Le Moyne had 16 years of education and experience in the priesthood in France before his a ...
, eloquent in Huron and Iroquois languages, departed from
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
to the upper
Mohawk valley
The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, th ...
. On August 16 of that year, the
Onondagas
The Onondaga people ( Onondaga: , ''Hill Place people'') are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois (''Haudenosaunee'') Confederacy in northeast North America. Their traditional homeland is in and around present-day Onondag ...
showed him a spring that they believed to be cursed, but which he immediately recognized as a salt spring.
Upon his return,
Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot
Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot (aka Joseph Marie Chaumonot) (March 9, 1611 – February 21, 1693) was a French priest and Jesuit missionary who learned and documented the language of the Wyandot people, also known as the Huron. He studied at the ...
and
Claude Dablon
Claude Dablon (February 1618 – May 3, 1697) was a Jesuit missionary, born in Dieppe, France.
At the age of twenty-one he entered the Society of Jesus, and after his course of studies and teaching in France, arrived in Canada in 1655. He was at ...
laid the groundwork to build
Sainte Marie among the Iroquois
Sainte Marie among the Iroquois (originally known as ''Sainte Marie de Gannentaha'' or ''St. Mary's of Ganantaa'') was a 17th-century French Jesuit mission located in the middle of the Onondaga nation of the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois. It was locat ...
in 1656, a sizable mission which housed about 7 Jesuits and 50 French workmen. This group had to abandon the mission 2 years later to avoid a threatened massacre by
Mohawks. Additional missions were undertaken by Jesuits and
Sulpicians
The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (french: Compagnie des Prêtres de Saint-Sulpice), abbreviated PSS also known as the Sulpicians is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, ...
.
Meanwhile, the nearby Dutch
proprietary colony
A proprietary colony was a type of English colony mostly in North America and in the Caribbean in the 17th century. In the British Empire, all land belonged to the monarch, and it was his/her prerogative to divide. Therefore, all colonial prop ...
of
New Netherlands
New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva P ...
fell to the English in 1664, and again in 1667. Almost immediately, the English and French began to dispute the territory that was inhabited by the Iroquois. Both sides incited their Indigenous allies to raid the allies of the other, leading to rivalries, atrocities, and reprisals, making it difficult to maintain and continue missions.
Several decades later, the colonial legislature under
Governor Bellomont ushered in harsh
penal laws that threatened to fine, imprison, and even execute Catholic priests found not only in parts of New York controlled by the British, but the disputed areas as well.
The last Jesuit missionary to the Iroquois surrendered at Albany in 1709.
Great Britain gained full legal control over this territory with the signing of the
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Kingdom of France, France and Spanish Empire, Spain, with Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal in agree ...
at the conclusion of the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754†...
.
The
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
and the ratification of the
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
finally removed the legal impediments to practice the Catholic faith. Nevertheless, it took many decades before Catholic churches would be built in central New York. There were very few Catholics settled there, and only a small number of them could make the journey to Albany or New York City to attend Mass. Among them were
John C. Devereux, first mayor of
Utica, who was a member of the board of trustees of
St. Mary's Church in Albany, and Dominick Lynch, founder of
Rome, New York
Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States, located in the Central New York, central part of the state. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Rome is one of two principal cities in the Utica–Ro ...
, who was one of the signatories of an address of congratulations by the Catholics of the United States presented to
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
upon his election.
[
The population of Catholics swelled when teams of Irish Catholics arrived to construct the ]Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
, and also when the opening of the canal increased trade, commerce, and additional immigration. Rev. Paul McQuade, pastor of St. Mary's Church in Albany from 1813 to 1815, frequently visited Utica, and probably celebrated Masses there in private homes. The first public Mass in the city of Utica was celebrated in the Courthouse on January 10, 1819.[
The advent of ]railroads
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
brought an ever-increasing number of immigrants to Syracuse. The decision was made to form the diocese of Syracuse, which took place on November 20, 1886. Rev. Patrick Anthony Ludden, former vicar general
A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...
of the Diocese of Albany, was named bishop, and St. John the Evangelist Church was selected to serve as the first cathedral. Bishop Ludden built a new cathedral, Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...
, and consecrated it on September 25, 1910.
Sex abuse scandal and bankruptcy
In June 2020 Bishop Lucia announced that the diocese had filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it struggled to deal with the cost of the lawsuits of hundreds of cases of sexual abuse allegations. Lucia claimed that he made the decision to file for bankruptcy to make sure the diocese would not become broke and to ensure that all the alleged victims got something for their lawsuits, although some lawyers of the plaintiffs criticized the decision saying that the diocese was seeking to avoid the lawsuits. Just days before filing for bankruptcy, 38 people filed new sex abuse lawsuits under the New York Child Victims Act.
Bishops
The list of ordinaries of the diocese and their years of service:
# Patrick Anthony Ludden
Patrick Anthony Ludden (February 4, 1836 – August 6, 1912) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the new Diocese of Syracuse in New York from 1887 until his death in 1912.
Biography
Earl ...
(1886–1912)"History of the Diocese of Syracuse", 1909, p. 25.
/ref>
# John Grimes (1912–1922)
# Daniel Joseph Curley
Daniel Joseph Curley (June 16, 1869 – August 3, 1932) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Syracuse from 1923 until his death in 1932.
Biography
Daniel Curley was born in New York City to Michael and ...
(1923–1932)
# John A. Duffy (1933–1937), appointed Bishop of Buffalo
The Diocese of Buffalo is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Buffalo, New York, United States. It is a suffragan diocese within the metropolitan province of the Archdiocese of New York. The Diocese of Buffalo inclu ...
# Walter Andrew Foery (1937–1970)
# David Frederick Cunningham
David Frederick Cunningham (December 3, 1900 – February 22, 1979) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Syracuse from 1970 to 1976.
Biography
David Cunningham was born in Walkerville, Montana, to Dav ...
(1970–1975)
# Francis James Harrison (1977–1987)
# Joseph Thomas O'Keefe
Joseph Thomas O'Keefe (March 12, 1919 – September 2, 1997) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Syracuse from 1987 to 1995.
Biography
Joseph O'Keefe was born in New York City to Michael and Bridget (n ...
(1987–1995)
# James Michael Moynihan
James Michael Moynihan (July 6, 1932 – March 6, 2017) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the ninth Bishop of Syracuse.
Biography
James Moynihan was born in Rochester, New York, to Michael Joseph and Carolyn Elizabeth ...
(1995–2009)
# Robert J. Cunningham (2009–2019)
# Douglas Lucia (2019–present)
Former auxiliary bishops
* Thomas Joseph Costello
Thomas Joseph Costello (February 23, 1929 – February 15, 2019) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as an auxiliary bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.
Born in Camden, New York, Costello was ordained to the pr ...
(1978–2004)
High schools
* Bishop Grimes Junior/Senior High School
Bishop Grimes Junior/Senior High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in East Syracuse, New York. It is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. This school has more than 350 students in grades seven through twelve.
Hist ...
, East Syracuse
* Bishop Ludden Junior/Senior High School
Bishop Ludden Junior/Senior High School is a private, Catholic high school in Syracuse, New York. It is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.
History
Bishop Ludden Junior-Senior High School was founded in 1963 as a Catholic co ...
, Syracuse
* Notre Dame Junior Senior High School, Utica
* Seton Catholic Central High School
Seton Catholic Central is a private Roman Catholic school located on the Westside of Binghamton, New York. It is run by the Catholic Schools of Broome County, which is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. The school was ranked 14 out o ...
, Binghamton
See also
* Index of Catholic Church articles
This is an index of Catholic Church articles. Portals and navigation boxes are at the bottom of the page. For a listing of Catholic Church articles by category, see :Catholic Church (and its various subcategories and pages) at the bottom of the p ...
* List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States
This is the list of the Catholic dioceses and archdioceses of the United States which includes both the dioceses of the Latin Church, which employ the Roman Rite and other Latin liturgical rites, and various other dioceses, primarily the eparchi ...
* List of Roman Catholic archdioceses
The following is a current list of Catholic archdioceses ordered by continent and country (for the Latin Church) and by liturgical rite (for the Eastern Catholic Churches).
Many smaller countries, as well as large countries with small Catholic po ...
(by country and continent)
* List of Roman Catholic dioceses (alphabetical)
This is a growing list of territorial Catholic dioceses and ordinariates in communion with the Holy See. There are approximately 3,000 actual (i.e., non-titular) dioceses in the Catholic Church (including the eparchies of the Eastern Catholic Ch ...
(including archdioceses)
* List of Roman Catholic dioceses (structured view)
As of October 5, 2021, the Catholic Church in its entirety comprises 3,171 ecclesiastical jurisdictions, including over 652 archdioceses and 2,248 dioceses, as well as apostolic vicariates, apostolic exarchates, apostolic administrations, apost ...
(including archdioceses)
References
External links
Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse Official Site
{{authority control
Religious organizations established in 1886
Syracuse
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
*Syracuse, Indiana
* Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
Syracuse
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
*Syracuse, Indiana
* Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
1886 establishments in New York (state)
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020