Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville

The Diocese of Belleville ( la, Diœcesis Bellevillensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the southern Illinois region of the United States. It comprises the southern counties of the state of Illinois and the See city for the diocese is the City of Belleville. It is a suffragan see in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Chicago. The cathedral parish for the diocese is the Cathedral of Saint Peter. Following the resignation of Edward Braxton on April 3, 2020, Michael G. McGovern was installed as the current Bishop of Belleville.

History

In this diocese are some of the oldest missions of the West. Father Claude-Jean Allouez S.J. was at Kaskaskia for eight weeks from early June to the middles of August 1673, before returning to St. Francis Xavier Mission near Green Bay. The records of the church of Kaskaskia date from the year 1695 and give the name of the Rev. Jacques Gravier, S.J., as the missionary priest. In 1768 Rev. Pierre Gibault was appointed Vicar General of the Archbishop of Quebec for the Illinois country.

French missionaries from Quebec opened the Cahokia mission of Holy Family in 1699."About the diocese", Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville
/ref> At that time the religious wants of the Catholics of Cahokia and the surrounding territory, including St. Louis across the river, were attended to by Father De Saintpierre.

The organization of the congregation of Prairie du Rocher coincides with the building of the first Fort de Chartres on the banks of the Mississippi in 1720. The Rev. Jen Le Boullenger, chaplain of the militia stationed at the Fort, was placed in charge of the congregation. The church, built by the people, was placed under the protection of St. Anne. In 1743 the Rev. J. Gagnon, S.J., took charge of the mission and laboured there until his death in 1755. His remains were interred by the side of the altar in the chapel in the cemetery. This chapel was built in 1734, and placed under the patronage of St. Joseph.Hagen, Henry. "Belleville." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 24 October 2022

When in 1843 the Diocese of Chicago was erected, Cahokia, Prairie du Long, Belleville, Shoal Creek, Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, and Shawneetown were the only parishes in the territory now comprised by the Diocese of Belleville.

The Diocese of Belleville was created on January 7, 1887 by Pope Leo XIII. Its territory was taken from the Diocese of Alton.

Bishops

Bishops of Belleville

#John Janssen (1888–1913)
# Henry J. Althoff (1913–1947)
#Albert Rudolph Zuroweste (1947–1976)
# William Michael Cosgrove (1976–1981)
#John Nicholas Wurm (1981–1984)
#James Patrick Keleher (1984–1993), appointed Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas
#Wilton Daniel Gregory (1993–2004), appointed Archbishop of Atlanta
#Edward Kenneth Braxton (2005–2020)
# Michael McGovern (2020–Present)

Auxiliary bishop

* Stanley Girard Schlarman (1979-1983), appointed Bishop of Dodge City

Other priest of this diocese who became Bishop

* Joseph Henry Leo Schlarman, appointed Bishop of Peoria in 1930 and subsequently named archbishop ''ad personam''

High schools

* Althoff Catholic High School, Belleville
* Gibault Catholic High School, Waterloo
* Mater Dei High School, Breese

Summer camps

*Camp Ondessonk

See also

* Pierre-Gabriel Marest, missionary at Kaskaskia

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville Official Site

{{Coord, 38, 31, 18, N, 89, 59, 43, W, source:plwiki, display=title

Belleville
Belleville
Religious organizations established in 1887
Belleville, Illinois
Belleville
1887 establishments in Illinois