Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Altar, Easter 2013

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tyler ( la, Dioecesis Tylerensis) 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, 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 eastern

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 ...

in the United States. The

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 Tyler, and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Tyler is its mother church. The Diocese of Tyler 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 of the metropolitan

Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston 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 ...

History

1690 to 1986

The first Catholic mission in Texas, then part of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

, was

San Francisco de los Tejas Mission San Francisco de la Espada (also Mission Espada) is a Roman Rite Catholic mission established in 1690 by Spain and relocated in 1731 to present-day San Antonio, Texas, in what was then known as northern New Spain. The mission was built in ...

. It was founded by Franciscan Father

Damián Massanet Damián Massanet was a Spanish Franciscan priest who co-founded the College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro, the first missionary college in New Spain. Biography Not much is known of Massanet's early life, but he is trusted to have been born in Majo ...

in 1690 in the Weches area. The priests left the mission after three years, then established a second mission, Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas. near present day

Alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

in 1716. In 1839, after the 1836 founding of the

Texas Republic The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Me ...

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...

erected the

prefecture apostolic An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Texas, covering its present day area. By the 1840's, missionaries were visiting Clarksville and

Nacogdoches Nacogdoches ( ) is a small city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Nacogdoches is a sister city of the smaller, similarly named Natchitoch ...

. The prefecture was elevated to a vicariate apostolic in 1846, the year that Texas became an American state. On May 4, 1847,

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

elevated the vicariate into the Diocese of Galveston.

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

received its first missionary visit in 1853. The Tyler area would remain part of several Texas dioceses for the next 139 years.

1986 to present

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 ...

founded the Diocese of Tyler on December 12, 1986 and erected on February 24, 1987.Texas Almanac-Diocese of Tyler
/ref> He appointed Reverend Charles Herzig of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston as its first bishop. Herzig died in 1991. In 1992, John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop

Edmond Carmody Edmond Carmody, D.D., (born January 12, 1934) is an Irish-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi in Texas (2000 to 2010), bishop of the Diocese of Tyler in Texas (1992 to 2000) ...

as bishop of Tyler. The pope named Carmondy as bishop of the

Diocese of Corpus Christi The Diocese of Corpus Christi ( la, Dioecesis Corporis Christi) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southern Texas. It was founded on March 23, 1912, having been the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville u ...

in 2000. Auxiliary Bishop

Álvaro Corrada del Río Álvaro (, , ) is a Spanish, Galician and Portuguese male given name and surname (see Spanish naming customs) of Visigothic origin. Some claim it may be related to the Old Norse name Alfarr, formed of the elements ''alf'' "elf" and ''arr'' "warrio ...

from the

Archdiocese of Washington The Archdiocese of Washington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. Its territorial remit encompasses the District of Columbia and the counties of Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, P ...

was named bishop of Tyler by John Paul II in 2001.

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 del Rio as bishop of the Diocese of Mayagüez in 2011. The current bishop of the Diocese of Tyler is

Joseph Strickland Joseph Edward Strickland (born October 31, 1958) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. Since his consecration on November 28, 2012, he has been the bishop of the Diocese of Tyler in eastern Texas. Strickland has stirred controversy o ...

of the Diocese of Dallas, appointed by Benedict XVI in 2011. Strickland is the first native East Texan to head the diocese.

Bishops

Bishops of Tyler

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 w ...

(1986–1991) #

(1992–2000), appointed Bishop of Corpus Christi #

, S.J. (2000–2011), appointed Bishop of Mayagüez in Puerto Rico # Joseph E. Strickland (2012–present)

Other diocesan priest who became bishop

* Eduardo Alanis Nevares, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Phoenix in 2010

Geography

The Diocese of Tyler comprises the following 33 counties in east and northeast Texas: Anderson, Angelina, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Delta, Franklin, Freestone, Gregg, Harrison, Henderson, Hopkins, Houston, Lamar, Leon, Madison, Marion, Morris, Nacogdoches, Panola, Rains, Red River, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby, Smith, Titus, Trinity, Upshur, Van Zandt, and Wood. The parishes are grouped into six

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

for administrative purposes: Northwest, West Central, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast, East Central.

Education

High schools

* Bishop T. K. Gorman High School, Tyler * St. Mary's Catholic School, Longview

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Tyler Official Site
{{authority control

Tyler Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

Christian organizations established in 1986 Tyler, Texas

1986 establishments in Texas