Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia
The Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church which covers south Wales and the county of Herefordshire in England. The Metropolitan Province of Cardiff covers all of Wales and parts of England. Its one suffragan diocese is the Diocese of Wrexham.
History
The origin of the modern diocese can be traced to 1840 when the Apostolic Vicariate of the Welsh District was created out of the Western District of England and Wales. The Welsh District consisted of the whole of Wales and the English county of Herefordshire. When Pope Pius IX judged that the time was right to re-establish the Catholic hierarchy in Wales and England in 1850, the southern half of the Welsh District became the Newport and Menevia">Newport, Wales">Newport and Menevia. It had its pro-cathedral at Belmont Abbey.Boundaries were redrawn to cover Glamorgan, Monmouthshire and Herefordshire and renamed the Diocese of Newport in 1895. Eleven years later, the diocese became a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. In 1916, with no change to boundaries, the bishop was raised to the archbishop status with the see title becoming the Archdiocese of Cardiff. The episcopal seat was St David's Cathedral. Cardiff and Menevia dioceses merge in 2024.
Timeline
As all of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Wales are part of the ecclesiastical province of Cardiff-Menevia the history of the archdiocese and its suffragan dioceses are intertwined:- 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.
- 1852: Francis Richard Wegg-Prosser, a landowner in Hereford, converts to Catholicism.
- 15 February 1854: Wegg-Prosser sets about building a church and the foundation stone is laid on his Belmont estate.
- 1857: Construction of the Belmont monastic buildings starts.
- 21 November 1859: Most of it is built and it becomes a Benedictine priory. The abbey continues to be enlarged.
- 4 September 1860: The cathedral priory is consecrated.
- 4 July 1895: The Diocese of Newport and Menevia splits. Glamorgan, Monmouthshire 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 becomes the Diocese of Menevia with its pro-cathedral in Wrexham.
- 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 the cathedral.
- 12 March 1920: St David's Cathedral, Cardiff, is officially made the metropolitan cathedral.
- 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.
Overview
Bishops
Ordinaries
Vicars Apostolic of the Welsh District
- Thomas Joseph Brown, O.S.B.
Bishops of Newport and Menevia
- Thomas Joseph Brown, O.S.B.
- John Cuthbert Hedley, O.S.B.
Archbishops of Cardiff
- James Romanus Bilsborrow, O.S.B.
- Francis Edward Joseph Mostyn
- Michael Joseph McGrath
- John Aloysius Murphy
- John Aloysius Ward, O.F.M. Cap.
- Peter David Smith
- George Stack
- Mark O'Toole
Bishops of Menevia
- 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
Archbishops of Cardiff-Menevia
- Mark O'Toole
Coadjutor Bishops of Menevia
- John Peter Mark Jabalé, O.S.B.
- John Aloysius Ward, O.F.M. Cap. †
Auxiliary Bishops of Cardiff
- John Edward Cuthbert Hedley, O.S.B., appointed Bishop here
- Daniel Joseph Mullins, appointed Bishop of Menevia
Auxiliary Bishop of Menevia
- Langton Douglas Fox †, appointed Bishop of Menevia.
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
- Peter Malcolm Brignall, appointed Bishop of Wrexham, Wales in 2012
- Peter Collins , appointed Bishop of East Anglia in 2022
- Daniel Joseph Hannon, appointed Bishop of Menevia in 1941
- David James Mathew, appointed auxiliary bishop of Westminster in 1938
- Edwin Regan, appointed Bishop of Wrexham in 1994
- Francis John Vaughan, appointed Bishop of Menevia in 1926
Deaneries
The deaneries include: