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Catholic ecclesiastical territory From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax–Yarmouth (Latin: Archidioecesis Halifaxiensis–Yarmuthensis) is a Latin Church archdiocese that includes part of the civil province of Nova Scotia.
Archdiocese of Halifax–Yarmouth Archidioecesis Halifaxiensis–Yarmuthensis | |
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![]() Coat of Arms of the Archdiocese | |
Location | |
Country | ![]() |
Territory | Central Nova Scotia |
Ecclesiastical province | Halifax–Yarmouth |
Metropolitan | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
Statistics | |
Area | 34,055 km2 (13,149 sq mi) |
Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2022) 807,605 215,880 (26.7%) |
Parishes | 66[1] |
Information | |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Rite | Roman Rite |
Established | 4 September 1817 |
Cathedral | St. Mary's Basilica |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Archbishop | Brian Joseph Dunn |
Website | |
www |
The Archdiocese of Halifax–Yarmouth has both a cathedral, St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica, in Halifax, and a co-cathedral St. Ambrose Co-Cathedral, in Yarmouth. Since 2020, the diocesan ordinary has been Archbishop Brian Dunn.
In 1784, catholics in the town of Halifax decided to build a church after the penal statutes against popery were repealed. A small chapel, St. Peter's, was erected on a site at the south end of the town of Halifax in July of that year. The wardens of St. Peter's also petitioned Bishop John Butler of Cork, Ireland to send Father James Jones, who knew many Irish settlers in Halifax and had expressed interest in coming to serve the church in North America.[2]
In 1801, Bishop Pierre Denaut of Quebec, somewhat alarmed at the radical developments at St. Peter's parish in Halifax after Father James Jones' departure, had asked Father Edmund Burke, the Vicar General of Upper Canada, to move to Halifax to tackle the situation.
On territory originally a part of the Diocese of Quebec, including the whole of Nova Scotia, the future Diocese of Halifax was established on 4 September 1817 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Nova Scotia, a pre-diocesan jurisdiction entitled to a titular bishop and exempt (i.e., directly subject to the Holy See and not part of any ecclesiastical province), with Edmund Burke as the Vicar Apostolic of Nova Scotia. He was consecrated on July 5th 1818 as Titular Bishop of Sion by Bishop Joseph-Octave Plessis.
It was elevated to a bishopric on 15 February 1842 and on 22 September 1844 lost territory to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arichat, now (as the Diocese of Antigonish) one of its suffragans.
In 1852, the Diocese of Halifax was elevated to an archdiocese[3] and an ecclesiastical province was also created from dioceses of Arichat, Charlottetown and Fredericton, along with the Archdiocese of Halifax. Bishop William Walsh became the first Archbishop of Halifax.[2]
It lost territory twice more: on 19 February 1953 to establish the Apostolic Prefecture of Bermuda Islands and on 6 July 1953 to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yarmouth.[4]
The Archdiocese of Halifax enjoyed a papal visit from Pope John Paul II in September 1984; that year was the 200th anniversary of the precedent set by the laity of Halifax of forcing the repeal of the anti-Catholic legislation in Nova Scotia, and the British Empire.[2]
In December 2011, the Diocese of Yarmouth was merged back into the Archdiocese of Halifax, creating the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth,[5] which was renamed by absorbing its title. The former cathedral became the St. Ambrose Co-Cathedral, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
The Archdiocese of Halifax–Yarmouth covers 34,055 square kilometers. As of 2021, the archdiocese contained 66 parishes, 58 active diocesan priests, 7 religious priests, and 215,880 Catholics. It also had 87 women religious, 7 religious brothers, and 41 permanent deacons.[1]
The metropolitan archbishop heads an ecclesiastical province which includes the suffragan dioceses of Antigonish and Charlottetown.
(all Roman Rite)
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