History of the Diocese of Providence
History of the Diocese of Providence The history below was researched and authored by Fr. Robert Hayman, Pastor Emeritus of St. Sebastian Church in Providence. To contact Fr. Hayman, please write: Cathedral of SS. Peter & Paul, 30 Fenner Street, Providence, RI 02903. The Beginnings of Catholicism in Rhode Island Rather than observing its 125th anniversary in 1997, the Diocese of Providence might well be observing its 152nd. In 1843, when the Diocese of Boston, which had until then encompassed all of New England, was divided, the Holy See designed Hartford, Connecticut as the see city of the new diocese. The first Bishop of Hartford, the Vermont-born convert, Fr. William Barber Tyler, was a priest of the Diocese of Boston. Shortly after his ordination on March 17, 1844, Bishop Tyler was formally installed as head of the new diocese in Holy Trinity Church, Hartford, on Sunday, April 14, 1844. Hartford at that time had a population of roughly 13,000, of whom between 500 and 600 were adult Catholics, and was centrally located within the new diocese. However, Holy Trinity was burdened with debt and there was little extra revenue to support another priest living in the parish. Providence, on the other hand, had a population of 23,000, of whom over 2,000 were Catholics. There were two churches in the city, SS. Peter and Paul and St. Patrick’s. SS. Peter and Paul was the larger of the two and was debt free. After talking the matter over with Bishop Joseph Fenwick of Boston, Bishop Tyler came over to Providence on the first Sunday of July 1844, and announced to the parishioners of SS.
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