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Diocese of Richmond

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Diocese of Richmond
Diœcesis Richmondiensis
Catholic
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
Location
Country United States
Territory Central and Southern Virginia, as well as the Eastern Shore of Virginia
Ecclesiastical province Baltimore
Metropolitan Baltimore
Statistics
Area 36,711 sq mi (95,080 km2)
Population
Total
Catholics 		(as of 2015)
4,942,100
236,061 (4.7%)
Parishes 142
Schools 28
Information
Denomination Catholic
Sui iuris church Latin Church
Rite Roman Rite
Established July 11, 1820
Cathedral Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
Patron saint St. Vincent de Paul
Current leadership
Pope Leo XIV
Bishop Barry C. Knestout
Metropolitan Archbishop William E. Lori
Map
Website
www.richmonddiocese.org

The Diocese of Richmond (Latin: Diœcesis Richmondiensis) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Virginia in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore.

The diocese's current bishop is Barry C. Knestout, who was appointed by Pope Francis on December 5, 2017.[1][2]

Statistics

The Diocese of Richmond encompasses all of central and southern Virginia, the Hampton Roads area, and the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay.

As of 2022, the diocese had 135 diocesan and religious priests serving a Catholic population of 226,674 in 138 parishes and eight missions. The diocese was operating nine hospitals and seven facilities for the elderly.[3]

History

1600 to 1800

Prior to the American Revolution, few Catholics lived in the British Colony of Virginia. Attempts to found Catholic settlements in Virginia were made by Lord Baltimore in 1629, and by Captain George Brent in 1687. In 1634, Reverend John Altham, a Jesuit companion of Reverend Andrew White, performed missionary work among the Native American tribes living on the south bank of the Potomac River.

The colonial government of Virginia soon enacted stringent laws against the practice of Catholicism. In 1687, Reverends Edmonds and Raymond were arrested at Norfolk, Virginia, for exercising their priestly functions. During the last quarter of the 18th century, the few Catholic settlers at Aquia Creek near the Potomac, were attended by Reverend John Carroll and other Jesuit missionaries from Maryland.[4]

1800 to 1820

With the 1786 passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, proposed by future US President Thomas Jefferson, Catholics were granted religious freedom in the new State of Virginia. Reverend Jean Dubois, accompanied by several French priests and letters of introduction from the Marquis de Lafayette, arrived in Norfolk in August 1791. in December 1791, the Virginia General Assembly invited Dubois to celebrate a mass in the courtroom of the new Virginia State House. This was the first mass conducted anywhere in Richmond.[4]

Future US President James Monroe hosted Dubois in Richmond until he was able to rent a house there. Dubois later opened a school to teach French, the classics and arithmetic.[5] Virginia Governor Patrick Henry helped Dubois learn English. For two years, Dubois mainly celebrated mass in rented rooms or at the homes of Richmond's few Catholic families.[6]

According to tradition, Alexandria had a log chapel with an unknown resident Catholic priest by 1776. Reverend John Thayer from Boston was stationed at the chapel in 1794. Reverend Francis Neale erected a brick church in Alexandria in 1796 and constructed a larger one there in 1811. The Jesuit Anthony Kohlmann and future Bishop Benedict Fenwick frequently officiated in Alexandria.

The first Catholic church in Norfolk was St. Patrick's in 1791. Its parishioners were refugees who had fled France after the French Revolution in 1789. It is the oldest parish in the diocese.[7] Around 1796, the priest James Bushe started building new church in Norfolk. He was succeeded there by the future Archbishop Leonard Neale.

1820 to 1850

Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Richmond on July 11, 1820. He removed all of Virginia (except for the two counties of the Eastern Shore region) and present-day West Virginia from the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Pius VII appointed Reverend Patrick Kelly as its first bishop.[4] After arriving in New York City in 1820, Kelly traveled to Baltimore to meet Bishop Ambrose Maréchal. Kelly wrote to his brother about Maréchal:

He did not receive me over kindly, and tried to persuade me it would be dangerous to take possession of my See; but his arguments did not satisfy me, and I arrived Norfolk on 19th January.

In January 1821, Kelly took up residence in Norfolk which had a larger Catholic population than the episcopal see in Richmond. While bishop, Kelly opened the first Catholic school in the diocese and engaged in missionary efforts. Kelly was soon involved in disputes with Maréchal over their jurisdictions. To end the fighting, Pius VII appointed Kelly as bishop of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore in Ireland in early 1822. There would be no new bishop in Richmond for the next 18 years.

Pope Gregory XVI named Reverend Richard Whelan of Richmond as the new bishop of that diocese in 1840. Since Kelly's departure in 1822, the diocese had been vacant. During that period, Richmond had become a stronghold of the Know-Nothing political party, known for its anti-Catholic bigotry and violence. As the diocese only had six priests, Whelan appealed to the Societies for the Propagation of the Faith in Paris, Lyon, France, and Vienna in the Austrian Empire to recruit priests.[8] He also established a seminary college outside Richmond, where he resided and taught classes whenever he was in town. Whelan also established several parishes, missions and schools.[8]

In 1848, Whelan petitioned Pope Pius IX to divide the Diocese of Richmond into two dioceses, with the Allegheny Mountains serving as the boundary. In 1850, Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Wheeling. He removed from the Diocese of Richmond all of Virginia west of the Allegheny Mountain. Pius IX named Whelan bishop of the new diocese and replaced him in Richmond with John McGill of the Diocese of Bardstown.

1850 to 1870

When McGill arrived in Richmond in 1850, the diocese had 7,000 Catholics, eight priests, and 10 churches.[9] He convened the first diocesan synod in 1855. During his tenure, Virginia was devastated by yellow fever and cholera epidemics. Pius IX in 1858, transferred the territory of Alexandria to the Diocese of Richmond. The Federal government in 1846 had retroceded the city of Alexandria back to Virginia from the District of Columbia.

During the American Civil War of the early 1860s, Catholics in the Confederate States were unable to purchase Catholic books published in the North. To fill the gap, McGill wrote, "The True Church Indicated to the Inquirer" and "Our Faith, the Victory", republished as "The Creed of Catholics".[9] He also visited Union Army prisoners of war in the Libby Prison in Richmond, doing what he could to aid them. In 1867, McGill brought the Sisters of Charity from Emmitburgh, Maryland, to set up a school in the diocese.[9] McGill died in 1872 and Pius IX named James Gibbons, then vicar apostolic of North Carolina, as the new bishop of Richmond. Gibbons stayed in Richmond for five years, at which point Pius IX appointed him coadjutor archbishop of Baltimore.[10]

The start of the American Civil War in 1865 had led to the formation of the state of West Virginia. It consisted of the western counties of Virginia, which had seceded from Virginia rather than be part of the breakaway Confederate States of America. However, the new state boundary between Virginia and West Virginia did not coincide with the boundary between the Dioceses of Wheeling and Richmond. This disparity endured for over a century. Pope Pius IX erected the new Diocese of Wilmington in 1868. As part of that new diocese, the pope removed two Eastern Shore counties from the Diocese of Richmond.[11]

1870 to 1910

After McGill died in 1872, Pope Leo XIII appointed Reverend John J. Keane of the Archdiocese of Baltimore as the new bishop of Richmond.[12] As bishop, Keane established the Confraternity of the Holy Ghost, a Catholic fellowship, in the diocese. He published A Sodality Manual for the Use of the Servants of the Holy Ghost in 1880. Despite opposition, Keane founded schools and churches for Catholic African-Americans in the diocese. He addressed Protestant groups to educate them about the Catholic Church. Keene was appointed rector of the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. in 1886.[13] He resigned his post as bishop two years later to serve full time as rector.[12]

In 1889, Leo XIII appointed Augustine Van de Vyver as bishop of the Diocese of Richmond.[14] In 1901, philanthropist Thomas Ryan and his wife donated almost $500,000 to buy the land and construct a new Sacred Heart Cathedral in Richmond. It was consecrated in 1906. While bishop, Van de Vyver open new religious congregations, schools and other Catholic institutions.[15] With assistance from a donor, Van de Vyver opened an industrial college for African-American boys in Rock Castle, Virginia. Katherine Drexel, mother superior of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. opened a school for African-American girls.[16]

In August 1902, Reverend Joseph Anciaux a Belgian Josephite priest in Virginia wrote a letter to the Congregation of the Propaganda in Rome, condemning acceptance by the U.S. Catholic hierarchy of racial segregation in the United States. He called it a radical and non-Catholic policy, and accused Van de Vyver personally of timidity in the face of "negro haters". In October 1902, Van de Vyver forced Anciaux to leave the diocese.[17]

1910 to 1970

After Van de Vyver died in 1911, Pope Pius X named Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. O'Connell of the Archdiocese of San Francisco as the new bishop of Richmond.[18] The first parish in Virginia Beach, the Star of the Sea, was established in 1915.[19]

O'Connell resigned due to bad health in 1926 and Pope Pius XI named Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Brennan of the Diocese of Scranton to replace him.[20] In 1929, at Brennan's suggestion, the Holy Name Society of Richmond establish the Catholic Laymen's League of Virginia. It was created to counteract the flow of anti-Catholic bigotry and misinformation in the media and from some Protestant ministers.[21]

In 1935, Pius XI named Monsignor Peter Ireton of Baltimore to assist Brennan as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Richmond, a job Ireton would hold for ten years. When Brennan resigned in 1945, Ireton automatically succeeded him as bishop of Richmond.[22] During his tenure as bishop, Ireton established 42 parishes, built 24 schools, and increased the Catholic population from 37,000 to 147,000.[23]

Ireton died in 1958 and Pius XI appointed Bishop John Russell from the Diocese of Charleston as his replacement.[24] In implementing the Second Vatican Council reforms, Russell established a diocesan Commission on Ecumenical Affairs in 1963, and a diocesan Pastoral Council and a Council of Priests in 1966.[25] A champion of civil rights, he had the parents of prospective students for Richmond's Catholic schools be interviewed for signs of racism.[26]

1970 to 2000

In 1970, Pope Paul VI named Monsignor Walter Sullivan as auxiliary bishop in Richmond. When Russell resigned as bishop of Richmond in 1973, the pope appointed Sullivan as the new bishop.[27] In 1974, Paul VI established the current boundaries of the Diocese of Richmond by:

  • Transferring the two Eastern Shore counties, ceded to the Diocese of Wilmington in 1868, back to the Diocese of Richmond
  • Erecting the new Diocese of Arlington, taking Northern Virginia from the Diocese of Richmond
  • Realigning the boundary between the Dioceses of Richmond and Wheeling to match the Virginia-West Virginia state line[28]

In 1977, Sullivan established a joint Catholic and Episcopalian parish, Holy Apostles in Virginia Beach. The church had separate altars for the two denominations. That same year, he established the diocesan Commission on Sexual Minorities to reach out to LGBTQ+ Catholics.[29]

2000 to 2010

The diocese was sued for defamation in July 2003 for $14 million by Carole Kahwajy. A principal of St. Benedict School in Richmond, the diocese had fired her in January 2002. Kahwajy said that diocesan officials had spread a story that she had covered up the sexual abuse of boys at St. Benedict by the priest John Hesch. She also claimed that diocese said she was sexually abusing boys at the school and had a sexual relationship with another priest.[30] In 2003, after 33 years as bishop, Sullivan retired.[27]

Pope John Paul II named Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of the Diocese of Honolulu as Sullivan's replacement in 2004.[31] Upon his installation, DiLorenzo reactivated the diocese's liturgical commission to assert control over any statements or documents produced by clergy within the diocese. DiLorenzo in 2006 forcibly retired Thomas J. Quinlan, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Virginia Beach for a history of using offensive language during mass. The situation had culminated with what DiLorenzo termed a sacrilegious reference to Mary, mother of Jesus, by Quinlan at a Christmas Eve mass.[32]

DiLorenzo moved his residence from Cathedral Place in Richmond to Midlothian. Some Catholics raised questions about the move and see it as a way to distance himself from his flock. But DiLorenzo responded that he is only 25 minutes away from the diocesan offices and that the move saved the diocese money: "Do I need to live in a three-story building by myself? I don't think so." The three-story house was turned into offices for those working in a building that the diocese was renting for $35,000 a year. "We saved ourselves thirty-some thousand a year," said DiLorenzo, "and I moved to Midlothian, a very quiet place."

2010 to present

In 2013, the diocese reported an increase in the number of seminarians preparing for the priesthood. According to Michael Boehling, the typical candidate was in his early to mid-20s, and was a college graduate with a degree in history, science or mathematics. "They are articulate and bright, well-rounded individuals who are mature for their age,"[33]

A judge in 2016 dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former diocesan employee. The diocese had hired John Murphy to serve as executive director of the Saint Francis Home in Richmond. The diocese fired him a week later after learning that he was in a same-sex marriage. Murphy asked for a dismissal after reaching a financial settlement with the diocese.[34]

DiLorenzo ended the diocesan sexual minorities commission, which his predecessor had established in 1977.[35][36] DiLorenzo increased the number of clustered parishes. He also brought in consultants to review some diocesan departments and commissions for dissolution.[37] DiLorenzo died in 2017.[38] His replacement as bishop was Auxiliary Bishop Barry C. Knestout from the Archdiocese of Washington, appointed by Pope Francis in 2017.[39]

In January 2019, Knestout gave permission to the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia to use Saint Bede Catholic Church in Williamsburg for the ordination of Susan B. Haynes as its new bishop. The Episcopal diocese did not have a cathedral and usually rotated locations for its ordinations and other events.[40] The announcement of the ordination was met with opposition by some Catholics who objected to holding a non-Catholic worship service and the episcopal ordination of a woman in a Catholic church. Over 3,000 people signed an online petition condemning the action. Two days later, the Diocese of Southern Virginia announced it would celebrate Haynes' ordination elsewhere.[41]

Sexual abuse

In March 1994, after the suicide death of a 21-year-old man, his parents requested that the diocese not allow the priest John Hesch to participate in his funeral mass. That request prompted a diocesan investigation of Hesch. It revealed allegations by the deceased that Hesch had sexually molested him during the 1980s when he was a student at St. Benedict School. When Hesch returned from a European trip in June 1994, Bishop Sullivan confronted him with the accusations. Later that day, Hesch committed suicide. In July 1994, a former teacher at St. Benedict, Jacqueline M. Mishkel, said she and another teacher had reported Hesch to the diocese in 1985. Mishkel said that students told her that during Hesch's sex education classes, he had them feel his exposed penis. She said the diocese told her Hesch would be sent away for counseling, but nothing happened.[42]

In April and August 1996, according to the 2023 Attorney General’s Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, two men reported to the Diocese of Richmond that they had been sexually molested as young teenagers by the priest John Bostwick III between 1980 and 1982. During trips with them, Bostwick fondled one’s genitals and tried the same with the other. Sullivan in November 1996 suspended Bostwick, then serving in Louisiana, and ordered him to attend a treatment facility, which Bostwick refused.[43] Bostwick was never returned to ministry.

In February 2019, Bishop Knestout released a list of 42 priests with "credible and substantiated" accusations of sexual abuse against them. The list covered allegations from the 1950s to 1993.[44][45] The list included Bishop Carroll Dozier of the Diocese of Memphis, who was accused of committing acts of sex abuse while serving in the Diocese of Richmond.[46]

In 2019, Knestout instructed Mark White, a diocesan priest, to shut down his blog, under pain of removal from the priesthood. White had criticized the church hierarchy's handling of the child sexual abuse crisis. His targets included former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, for whom Knestout had served as priest secretary, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, with whom Knestout had worked as auxiliary bishop.[47] In May 2020, Knestout removed White from his parish and trespassed him from the parish residence.[48] Knestout ordered White to take up residence at a retreat center and undertake a ministry to prisoners. In June 2020, the Vatican denied White's appeal of Knestout's decree.[49] In 2021, White said that Knestout was petitioning the Vatican to laicize him.[50]

In October 2020, the Richmond newspapers revealed that the diocese had paid $6.3 million to settle 51 out of 68 claims of sexual abuse.[51][52] In July 2021, the diocese added four more names to its list of clergy with credible accusations of sexual abuse.[53]

Bishops

Bishops of Richmond

  1. Patrick Kelly (1820–1822), appointed Bishop of Waterford and Lismore
  2. Richard Vincent Whelan (1841–1850), appointed Bishop of Wheeling
  3. John McGill (1850–1872)
  4. James Gibbons (1872–1877), appointed Archbishop of Baltimore (elevated to Cardinal in 1886)
  5. John Joseph Keane (1878–1888), appointed Rector of The Catholic University of America and Archbishop of Dubuque
  6. Augustine Van de Vyver (1889–1911)
  7. Denis Joseph O'Connell (1912–1926)
  8. Andrew James Louis Brennan (1926–1945)
  9. Peter Leo Ireton (1945–1958)
  10. John Joyce Russell (1958–1973)
  11. Walter Francis Sullivan (1974–2003)
  12. Francis Xavier DiLorenzo (2004–2017)
  13. Barry Christopher Knestout (2018–present)

Auxiliary Bishops of Richmond

Other diocesan priests who became bishops

Notable people

Knights of Columbus

The Knights of Columbus has several councils in the Diocese of Richmond. One of its best known services is the KOVAR drive, which raises money for Virginians with intellectual disabilities.[55]

Education

As of 2022, the Diocese of Richmond had 29 schools serving approximately 9,200 students.[56]

High schools

  • Benedictine College Preparatory – Richmond[57]
  • Blessed Sacrament Huguenot Catholic School – Powhatan[58]
  • Cardinal Newman Academy – Bon Air[59]
  • Catholic High School – Virginia Beach[60]
  • Cristo Rey Richmond High School – Richmond[61]
  • Peninsula Catholic High School – Newport News[62]
  • Roanoke Catholic School – Roanoke[63]
  • Saint Gertrude High School – Goochland[64]
  • St. Vincent de Paul Virtual Academy – Newport News. It is administered by Peninsula Catholic High School.[65]
  • Walsingham Academy – Williamsburg[66]

Closed schools

Holy Cross Regional Catholic School – Lynchburg

Lower Schools

The Diocese of Richmond oversees other Catholic education options across Virginia that are administered by different parishes, religious orders and private lay groups.[67]

Higher Education

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing – Henrico[68]

See also

Canonical status and jurisdiction

Diocese of Richmond is a diocese of the catholic church of the Catholic Church.[69]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Diocese of Richmond — (Richmondensis.). Suffragan of Baltimore, established 11 July, 1820, comprises the State of Virginia, except the Counties of Accomac and Northampton (Diocese of Wilmington); and Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Craig (partly), Dickinson, Floyd, Giles, Grayson, Lee, Montgomery, Pulaski, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, and Wythe (Diocese of Wheeling); and in the State of West Virginia, the Counties of Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan, and Pendleton. It embraces 31,518 square miles in Virginia and 3290 square miles in West Virginia. Originally it included also the territory of the present Diocese of Wheeling, created 23 July, 1850.

Colonial Period

In the summer of 1526 a Spanish Catholic settlement was made in Virginia on the very spot (according to Ecija, the pilot-in-chief of Florida) where, in 1607, eighty-one years later, the English founded the settlement of Jamestown. Lucas Vasques de Ayllón, one of the judges of the island of San Domingo, received from the King of Spain, 12 June, 1523,a patent empowering him to explore the coast for 800 leagues, establish a settlement within three years and Christianize the natives. In June, 1526, Ayllón sailed from Puerto de la Plata, San Domingo, with three vessels, 600 persons of both sexes, horses and supplies. The Dominicans Antonio de Montesinos and Antonio de Cervantes, with Brother Peter de Estrada, accompanied the expedition. Entering the Capes at the Chesapeake, and ascending a river (the James), he landed at Guandape, which he named St. Michael. Buildings were constructed and the Holy Sacrifice offered in a chapel, the second place of Catholic worship on American soil. Ayllón died of fever, 18 Oct., 1526. The rebellion of the settlers and hostility of the Indians caused Francisco Gomez, the next in command, to abandon the settlement in the spring of 1527, when he set sail for San Domingo in two vessels, one of which foundered. Of the party only 150 reached their destination.

A second expedition sent by Menendez, the Governor of Florida and nominal Governor of Virginia, settled on the Rappahannock River at a point called Axacan, 10 Sept., 1570. It consisted of Fathers Segura, Vice-Provincial of the Jesuits, and Luis de Quiros, six Jesuit brothers, and a few friendly Indians. A log building served as chapel and home. Through the treachery of Don Luis de Velasco, an Indian pilot of Spanish name, Father Quiros and Brothers Solis and Mendez were slain by the Indians, 14 Feb., 1571. Four days later were martyred Father Segura, Brothers Linares, Redondo, Gabriel, Gomez, and Sancho Zevalles. Menendez, several months later, sailed for Axacan, where he had eight of the murderers hanged; they being converted before death by Father John Rogel, a Jesuit missionary.

Attempts to found Catholic settlements in Virginia were made by Lord Baltimore in 1629, and Captain George Brent in 1687. In the spring of 1634 Father John Altham, a Jesuit companion of Father Andrew White, the Maryland missionary, laboured amongst some of the Virginia tribes on the south side of the Potomac. Stringent laws were soon enacted in Virginia against Catholics. In 1687 Fathers Edmonds and Raymond were arrested at Norfolk for exercising their priestly functions. During the last quarter of the eighteenth century the few Catholic settlers at Aquia Creek, near the Potomac, were attended by Father John Carroll and other Jesuit missionaries from Maryland.

American Period

Rev. Jean Dubois, afterwards third Bishop of New York, accompanied by a few French priests and with letters of introduction from Lafayette to several prominent Virginia families, came to Norfolk in August, 1791, where he laboured a few months, and probably left the priests who came with him. Proceeding to Richmond towards the end of the year, he offered in the House of Delegates, by invitation of the General Assembly, the first Mass ever said in the Capital City. His successors at Richmond, with interruptions, were the Revs. T.C. Mongrand, Xavier Michel, John McElroy, John Baxter, John Mahoney, James Walsh, Thomas Hore, and Fathers Horner and Schreiber.

Tradition tells us that at an early date, probably at the time of the Declaration of Independence, Alexandria had a log chapel with an unknown resident priest. Rev. John Thayer of Boston was stationed there in 1794. Rev. Francis Neale, who in 1796 constructed at Alexandria a brick church, erected fourteen years later a more suitable church where Fathers Kohlmann, Enoch, and Benedict Joseph Fenwick, afterwards second Bishop of Boston, frequently officiated. About 1796 Rev. James Bushe began the erection of a church at Norfolk. His successors were the Very Rev. Leonard Neale, afterwards Archbishop of Baltimore (see Baltimore, Archdiocese of), Revs. Michael Lacy, Christopher Delaney, Joseph Stokes, Samuel Cooper, J. VanHorsigh, and A.L. Hitzelberger.

Bishops of Richmond

(1) Right Rev. Patrick Kelly, D.D., consecrated first Bishop of Richmond, 24 Aug., 1820, came to reside at Norfolk, where the Catholics were much more numerous than at Richmond, 19 Jan., 1821. The erection of Virginia into a diocese had been premature and was accordingly opposed by the Archbishop of Baltimore. Because of factions and various other difficulties, Bishop Kelly soon petitioned Rome to be relieved of his charge. He left Virginia in July, 1822, having been transferred to the See of Waterford and Lismore, where he died, 8 Oct., 1829. Archbishop Marechal of Baltimore was appointed administrator of the diocese.

Rev. Timothy O'Brien, who came as pastor to Richmond in 1832, did more for Catholicism during his eighteen years' labour than any other missionary, excepting the Bishops of the See. In 1834 he built St. Peter's Church, afterwards the cathedral, and founded St. Joseph's Female Academy and Orphan Asylum, bringing as teachers three Sisters of Charity.

(2) The Right Rev. Richard Vincent Whelan, D.D., consecrated 21 March, 1841, established the same year, on the outskirts of Richmond, St. Vincent's Seminary and College, discontinued in 1846. Leaving Rev. Timothy O'Brien at St. Peter's, Richmond, the Bishop took up his residence at the seminary, and acted as president. In 1842 Bishop Whelan dedicated St. Joseph's Church, Petersburg, and St. Patrick's Church, Norfolk, and the following year that of St. Francis at Lynchburg. In 1846 he built a church at Wheeling and, two years later, founded at Norfolk St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum. Wheeling was made a separate see, 23 July, 1850, and to it was transferred Bishop Whelan.

(3) Right Rev. John McGill, D.D., consecrated 10 Nov., 1850, was present in Rome in 1854 when the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed. By pen and voice he opposed Knownothingism. In 1855 Bishop McGill convened the First Diocesan Synod. During the yellow fever plague of the same year, Rev. Matthew O'Keefe of Norfolk and Rev. Francis Devlin of Portsmouth won renown; the latter dying a martyr to priestly duty. In 1856 St. Vincent's Hospital, Norfolk, was founded. Alexandria, formerly in the Baltimore archdiocese as part of the District of Columbia, but ceded back to Virginia, was annexed to the Richmond diocese, 15 Aug., 1858. In 1860 the bishop transferred St. Mary's German Church, Richmond, to the Benedictines. During the Civil War Bishop McGill wrote two learned works, "The True Church Indicated to the Inquirer", and "Our Faith, the Victory", republished as "The Creed of Catholics". The bishop established at Richmond the Sisters of the Visitation, and at Alexandria the Sisters of the Holy Cross. He also took part in the Vatican Council. Bishop McGill died at Richmond, 14 January, 1872.

(4) Right Rev. James Gibbons, D.D. (afterwards archbishop and cardinal), consecrated titular Bishop of Adramyttum to organize North Carolina into a vicariate, 16 Aug., 1868, was appointed Bishop of Richmond, 30 July, 1872. He established at Richmond the Little Sisters of the Poor, and St. Peter's Boys' Academy. Erecting new parishes, churches, and schools, making constant diocesan visitations, frequently preaching to large congregations of both Catholics and non-Catholics, Bishop Gibbons, during his short rule of five years, accomplished in the diocese a vast amount of religious good. Made coadjutor Bishop of Baltimore, 29 May, 1877, he succeeded Archbishop Bayley in that see, 3 Oct., 1877.

(5) Right Rev. John Joseph Keane, D.D. (afterwards archbishop), consecrated, 25 Aug., 1878. Gifted with ever-ready and magnetic eloquence, Bishop Keane drew great numbers of people to hear his inspiring discourses. He held the Second Diocesan Synod in 1886, and introduced into the diocese the Josephites and the Xaverian Brothers. Bishop Keane was appointed first Rector of the Catholic University, Washington, 12 Aug., 1888, created titular Archbishop of Damascus, 9 Jan., 1897, and transferred to the See of Dubuque, 24 July, 1900.

(6) Right Rev. Augustine Van De Vyver, D.D., consecrated, 29 Oct., 1889, began an able and vigorous rule. On 3 June, 1903, he publicly received the Most Rev. Diomede Falconio, Apostolic Delegate, who the following day laid the cornerstone of the new Sacred Heart Cathedral, one of the most artistic edifices in the country, designed by Joseph McGuire, architect, of New York. A handsome bishop's house and a pastoral residence adjoin the cathedral. The latter was solemnly conscrated by Mgr. Falconio on 29 Nov., 1906. The event was the most imposing Catholic ceremony in the history of the diocese. Besides Cardinal Gibbons, and the Apostolic Delegate, there were present 18 archbishops and bishops. Bishop Van De Vyver convened a quasi-synod, 12 Nov., 1907, which approved the decrees of the Second Synod and enacted new and needed legislation. In 1907 the Knights of Columbus held at the Jamestown Exposition their national convention and jubilee celebration, participated in by the Apostolic Delegate, and several archbishops and bishops; while the following year the St. Vincent de Paul Society held a similar celebration in Richmond. In June, 1909, St. Peter's (Richmond) handsome new residence and the adjoining home of the McGill Union and the Knights of Columbus were completed, at a total cost of about $50,000. In the following autumn St. Peter's Church (the old cathedral) celebrated the diamond jubilee of its existence. With it, either as bishops or as priests, are indelibly linked the names of Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishops Keane and Janssens, and Bishops Van De Vyver, Whelan, McGill, Becker, Kelley and O'Connell of San Francisco. Most Rev. John J. Kain, deceased archbishop of St. Louis, had also been a priest of the diocese. Bishop Van De Vyver introduced into the diocese the Fathers of the Holy Ghost; additional Benedictine and Josephite Fathers and Xaverian Brothers; the Christian Brothers; additional Sisters of Charity; the Benedictine and Franciscan Sisters; Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, of the Blessed Sacrament and of the Perpetual Adoration. Under his regime have been founded 12 new parishes, 32 churches, 3 colleges, 4 industrial schools, 2 orphan asylums, 1 infant asylum (coloured), and many parochial schools.

Notable Benefactors

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Fortune Ryan, of New York, the former donating, the latter furnishing, the imposing Sacred Heart Cathedral (nearly $500,000), together with other notable benefactions. Mrs. Ryan has built churches, schools, and religious houses in various parts of the state. Other generous benefactors were Right Rev. Bernard McQuaid, D.D., Joseph Gallego, John P. Matthews, William S. Caldwell, Mark Downey, and John Pope.

Statistics (1911)

Secular priests, 50; Benedictines, 10; Josephites, 6; Holy Ghost Fathers, 2; Brothers, Xaverian, 35; Christian, 12; Sisters of Charity, 60; of St. Benedict, 50; Visitation Nuns, 23; Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Kentucky, 20; of the Holy Cross, 20; Little Sisters of the Poor, 18; Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, 18; of St. Francis, 12; of Perpetual Adoration, 10; parishes with resident priests, 35; msisions with churches, 48; colleges, 3 (1 coloured), academies, 9; parochial schools, 26; industrial schools, 4 (2 coloured); orphan asylums, 4; infant asylums, 1 (coloured); young people attending Catholic institutions, 7500; home for aged, 1 (inmates, 200); Catholic Hospital, 1 (yearly patients, 3000).

Catholic Societies

Priests' Clerical Fund Association; Eucharistic League; Holy Name; St. Vincent dePaul; League of Good Shepherd; boys' and girls' sodalities; tabernacle, altar, and sanctuary societies; women's benevolent and beneficial; fraternal and social, such as Knights of Columbus, Hibernians, and flourishing local societies. Of parishes there are one each of Germans, Italians, and Bohemians, and 4 for the coloured people. Catholic population, 41,000. The causes of growth are principally natural increase and conversions, there being little Catholic immigration into the diocese.

Magri, The Catholic Church in the City and Diocese of Richmond (Richmond, Virginia, 1906); Parks, Catholic Missions in Virginia (Richmond, 1850); Keiley, Memoranda (Norfolk, Virginia, 1874); Proceedings of the Catholic Benevolent Union (Norfolk, 1875); The Metropolitan catholic Almanac (Baltimore, 1841-61); Catholic Almanac and Directory (New York, 1865-95); Catholic Directory (Milwaukee, 1895-9); Official Catholic Directory (Milwaukee, 1900-11); Hughes, The History of the Society of Jesus in North America, Colonial and Federal (London, 1907); Shea, The History of the Catholic Church in the United States (Akron, Ohio, 1890); foreign references cited by Shea (I, bk II, i,106, 107, 149, 150); Navarette, Real Cedula que contiene el asiento capitulado con Lucas Vasquez de Ayllón; Coleccion de Viages y Descubrimientos (Madrid, 1829), ii, 153, 156; Fernandez, Historia Ecclesiastica de Nuestros Tiempos (Toledo, 1611); Quiros, Letter of 12 Sept., 1570; Rogel, Letter of 9 Dec., 1520; Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, 142-6; Tanner, Societas Militaris, 447-51.

References

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37°32′50.8″N 77°27′07.7″W / 37.547444°N 77.452139°W

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