Roman Catholic Diocese of Menevia


The Diocese of Menevia was a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Wales. It was one of two suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cardiff and was subject to the Archdiocese of Cardiff, until it merged with the archdiocese in 2024, to form the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia.

History

The history of the diocese of St Davids is traditionally traced to that saint in the latter half of the 6th century. Records of the history of the diocese before Norman times are very fragmentary, however, consisting of a few chance references in old chronicles, such as Annales Cambriae and Brut y Tywysogion.
On 12 May 1898, the Apostolic Vicariate of Wales was elevated to diocesan status and had its seat at the Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows in Wrexham until 1987 when the Diocese of Wrexham was created.The Diocese of Menevia covered between 1987 and 2024 the area roughly that of the ancient Diocese of St Davids. The Catholic diocese was led by Mark O'Toole, Archbishop of Cardiff, when Cardiff and Menevia merged in a single Archdiocese in 2024.
The sixth century bishop St Ismael is honoured on 16 June.

Timeline

  • 6th Century: Saint David becomes bishop
  • 21 January 1560: diocese disestablished, becomes the protestant Diocese of St Davids.
  • 29 September 1850: Universalis Ecclesiae: The Roman Catholic Church in Wales is split between the Diocese of Shrewsbury in the north and the Diocese of Newport and Menevia in the south.
  • 4 September 1860: Belmont Abbey, Herefordshire, the cathedral priory of the Diocese of Newport and Menevia is consecrated.
  • 4 July 1895: The Diocese of Newport and Menevia splits. Glamorgan, Monmouth and Herefordshire become the Diocese of Newport. The rest of Wales, including North Wales from the Diocese of Shrewsbury, becomes the Apostolic Vicariate of Wales.
  • 12 May 1898: The Apostolic Vicariate of Wales become the Diocese of Menevia with Wrexham Cathedral as its pro-cathedral.
  • 7 February 1916: The Diocese of Newport becomes the Archdiocese of Cardiff and it is decided that St David's church in Cardiff would become its cathedral.
  • 12 March 1920: St David's Cathedral, Cardiff is officially made the metropolitan cathedral of the Archdiocese of Cardiff.
  • 12 February 1987: The Diocese of Menevia is split. The north becomes the Diocese of Wrexham with its cathedral remaining in Wrexham. The south remains the Diocese of Menevia and sets up Swansea Cathedral.
  • 12 September 2024: Pope Francis creates the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia by merging the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the Diocese of Menevia.

    Details

In 2007, there were 27,561 Catholics in the diocese which was served by 34 diocesan priests, 19 religious priests, 9 non-ordained male religious and 100 female religious. There are 34 Catholic educational institutions in the then-diocese, including three secondary schools:
Founded in 1965, St Joseph's School was the first Catholic comprehensive school in Wales.
The geographic remit consisted of the City and County of Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot, and the traditional counties of Brecknockshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Radnorshire - an area of roughly.
The cathedra was located at St Joseph's Cathedral, Swansea. Situated within what was the diocese is the Welsh National Shrine of Our Lady of Cardigan at Cardigan.

Bishops

Ordinaries

  • Francis Edward Joseph Mostyn †
  • Francis J. Vaughan †
  • Michael Joseph McGrath †
  • Daniel Joseph Hannon †
  • John Edward Petit †
  • Langton Douglas Fox †
  • John Aloysius Ward, OFM Cap †
  • James Hannigan †
  • Daniel Joseph Mullins †
  • John Mark Jabalé
  • Thomas Matthew Burns
  • Mark O'Toole

    Coadjutor Bishops

  • John Peter Mark Jabalé, O.S.B.
  • John Aloysius Ward, O.F.M. Cap. †

    Auxiliary Bishop

  • Langton Douglas Fox †, appointed Bishop of Menevia.

    Another priest of this diocese who became bishop

  • Peter Malcolm Brignall, appointed Bishop of Wrexham, Wales in 2012.

    Deaneries

There were a total of five deaneries in the Diocese of Menevia, all of which cover several churches in that area, overseen by a dean.
The deaneries are: