The Diocese of St. Augustine 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 Jo ...

ecclesiastical territory of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, located in the U.S. state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. It 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 Alexandri ...

in the

Ecclesiastical Province of Miami The Ecclesiastical Province of Miami is a Catholic Church, Catholic ecclesiastical province covering the U.S. state of Florida. Its metropolitan bishop is the Archbishop of Miami, head of the Archdiocese of Miami. The province additionally includes ...

, covering much of North Florida, including the cities of

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, and Gainesville. The bishop's seat is the

Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine ( es, Catedral basílica de San Agustín) is a historic cathedral in St. Augustine, Florida, and the seat of the Catholic Bishop of St. Augustine. It is located at 38 Cathedral Place between Charlotte an ...

; the current bishop is Erik T. Pohlmeier.

is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the continental United States. The city was part of other dioceses until March 11, 1870, when the Diocese of St. Augustine was created. It covered most of the Florida peninsula until the 1950s, when Florida's expanding population necessitated the creation of new dioceses.

History

Background

The history of the diocese dates to the beginnings of European settlement in North America, when

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (; ast, Pedro (Menéndez) d'Avilés; 15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer and conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the first regular trans-ocean ...

secured Spanish supremacy in Florida by defeating the French and planting a permanent colony, Nombre de Dios Mission, in 1565 to evangelize the Indians. He had been accompanied by four priests, and there they celebrated the first Mass in what would become the United States. Martin Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales became first the parish priest of St. Augustine, the first established parish in the United States. Pending the arrival of regular missionaries, Menéndez appointed soldiers he deemed qualified to give religious instructions to the Indians. St. Augustine began its existence as a regularly constituted parish of the

Diocese of Santiago de Cuba The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba ( la, Archidioecesis Sancti Iacobi in Cuba, links=no) (erected 1518 as the Diocese of Baracoa) is a Metropolitan Archdiocese, responsible for the dioceses of Guantánamo-Baracoa, Holguín and S ...

. Its church records, dating from 1594, are preserved in the archives of the present cathedral. Catholic Heritage Plaque

In 1793, Pius VI established the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, appointing the Right Rev. Luis Peñalver y Cardenas, with residence at New Orleans, as first bishop. After Bishop Peñalver's promotion to the Archbishopric of Guatemala in 1801, no successor having been appointed, Louisiana, which was annexed to the United States in 1803, came under the jurisdiction of Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore in 1806, the bishops of Havana reassuming authority over Florida until the appointment of Fr

Michael Portier Bishop Michael Portier (September 7, 1795, Montbrison, France – May 14, 1859, Mobile, Alabama) was a Roman Catholic bishop in the United States and the first Bishop of Mobile. He immigrated to the US in 1817, being ordained there. He lat ...

in 1825 to the new Vicariate of Alabama and Florida. Bishop Portier undertook single-handed the work of his vast vicariate, not having a single priest, until at his request, Bishop John England of Charleston sent Father Edward Mayne to St. Augustine in 1828.

Formation of diocese

In 1850, the Diocese of Savannah was created and included that part of Florida which lies east of the

Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 160 mi (180 km) long in the state of Florida. The river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its far ...

; this was constituted a separate vicariate in 1857 under Bishop

Augustin Verot Jean Marcel Pierre Auguste Vérot, known commonly as Augustin Verot, (May 1804 – June 10, 1876) was a French-born American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the first bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida (1870–1876 ...

as vicar apostolic, and erected into the Diocese of St. Augustine in 1870, with Bishop Verot—who had headed the Diocese of Savannah since 1861—as first bishop. Bishop Verot's unwearied activity and zeal in promoting religion and education soon bore fruit; schools were opened by the Christian Brothers and the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

in 1858, but the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

frustrated all hopes of success. In 1866, the Sisters of St. Joseph were introduced from France, and despite the most adverse conditions, they had several flourishing schools and academies in operation before many years. The era of progress inaugurated by Bishop Verot continued under the administration of Bishop John Moore (1877–1901), whose successor, the Right Rev.

William John Kenny William John Kenny (January 12, 1853 – October 24, 1913) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida from 1902 until his death in 1913. Biography Early life William ...

, was consecrated by Cardinal Gibbons 18 May 1902, in the historic Cathedral of St. Augustine.

Modern era

Sex abuse

In March 2020, the Diocese of St. Augustine removed former Gainesville Father John H. Dux from ministry after determining that sex abuse allegations against him from 1976, which were now well beyond the state of Florida statute of limitation for a criminal case, were credible. In November 2020, the state of Florida released a list of 97 Catholic priests who were "credibly accused" of committing sex abuse, with five accused of committing sex abuse while serving in the Diocese of St. Augustine. However, a total of 13 priests on this statewide list were tied to the Diocese of St. Augustine.

Bishops

Bishops of Saint Augustine

The list of ordinaries of the diocese and their years of service: #

, P.S.S. (1870–1876) # John Moore (1877–1901) #

(1902–1913) #

Michael Joseph Curley Michael Joseph Curley (October 12, 1879 – May 16, 1947) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington (1939–1947). He served as the tenth archbishop of the Archdio ...

(1914–1921), appointed Archbishop of Baltimore-Washington #

Patrick Joseph Barry Patrick Joseph Barry DD (November 15, 1868 – August 12, 1940) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida from 1922 until his death in 1940. Biography Early life Ba ...

(1922–1940) #

Joseph Patrick Hurley Joseph Patrick Hurley (January 21, 1894 – October 30, 1967) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida from 1940 until his death in 1967. Hurley also served as a Vatic ...

(1940–1967), Archbishop (personal title) in 1949 # Paul Francis Tanner (1968–1979) #

John J. Snyder John Joseph Snyder (October 25, 1925 – September 27, 2019) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church, He served as the eighth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine, Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida from 1979 to 2000 ...

(1979–2000) #

Victor Galeone Victor Benito Galeone (born 1935) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida from 2001 to 2011. Biography Early life Victor Galeone was born in Philadelphia, Pennsy ...

(2001–2011) #

Felipe de Jesús Estévez Felipe de Jesús Estévez (born February 5, 1946) is a Cuban-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida from 2011 to 2022. Estévez previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdioc ...

(2011–2022) # Erik T. Pohlmeier (2022-present)

Auxiliary Bishop

* Thomas Joseph McDonough (1947-1957), appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Savannah and later Bishop of Savannah and Archbishop of Louisville

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

* Maurice Patrick Foley, appointed Bishop of Tuguegarao in the Philippines in 1910 * William Turner, 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 ...

in 1919 *

John Joseph Fitzpatrick John Joseph Fitzpatrick (October 12, 1918 – July 15, 2006) was a Canadian-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Miami in Florida from 1968 to 1971 and as the third bishop of the Di ...

(priest here, 1948-1958), appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Miami in 1968 and later Bishop of Brownsville * William Thomas Larkin, appointed Bishop of Saint Petersburg in 1979 *

Joseph Keith Symons Joseph Keith Symons (born October 14, 1932) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Symons served as bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach in Florida from 1990 to 1998. Previously, he served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese ...

, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Petersburg in 1981 *

Robert Joseph Baker Robert Joseph Baker (born June 4, 1944, in Willard, Ohio) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama from 2007 to 2019 and as bishop of the Diocese of Charleston in Sou ...

, appointed Bishop of Charleston in 1999 and later

Bishop of Birmingham A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

* Thanh Thai Nguyen, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Orange in 2017

High schools

* Bishop John J. Snyder High School, Jacksonville *

Bishop Kenny High School Bishop Kenny High School (commonly referred to as Bishop Kenny or BKHS) is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational Catholic high school in Jacksonville, Florida. It is located in and administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augusti ...

, Jacksonville * St. Francis High School, Gainesville * St. Joseph Academy, St. Augustine

Elementary schools

*St. Michael Academy (PreK-8), Fernandina Beach *Annunciation (PreK-8), Middleburg *Blessed Trinity (PreK-8), Jacksonville *Cathedral Parish (K-8), St. Augustine *Christ the King (PreK-8), Jacksonville *Epiphany (K-8), Lake City *Holy Family (PreK-8), Jacksonville *Holy Spirit (PreK-8), Jacksonville *Morning Star (Ungraded), Jacksonville *Palmer Academy (PreK-8), Ponte Vedra Beach *Queen of Peace (PreK-8), Gainesville *St Elizabeth Ann Seton (PreK-8), Palm Coast *San Jose Catholic (PreK-8), Jacksonville, *San Juan del Rio (PreK-8), Saint Johns *Sacred Heart (PreK-8) *St. Paul's, Jacksonville Beach *St. Paul's Riverside (3 years old - 8th grade), Jacksonville *St. Matthew's (Prek- 8), Jacksonville *Holy Rosary, Jacksonville, *St. Pius, Jacksonville *Resurrection, Jacksonville *St. Patrick's (PreK-8), Gainesville

Parishes

There are 53 active parishes in the Diocese of St. Augustine.

Basilicas

* Basilica of the Immaculate Conception -

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 ...

raised Immaculate Conception in

to a

Minor Basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

in 2013. * Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine (St. Augustine, Florida) - Originally established in 1565 and re-built in the 18th century, it is the oldest church in Florida.

Coat of Arms

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine Official Site
{{authority control Christianity in Jacksonville, Florida

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

Saint Augustin Saint Augustin St. Augustine, Florida 1870 establishments in Florida