1700 to 1843 During the 18th century, the
Congregationalists represented the dominant religious faith in the British
Province of Connecticut, with very few Catholics in residence. Between 1780 and 1781, just before the end of the
American Revolution, the first Catholic mass in the province was celebrated in
Lebanon. A reference stated "Mass was first celebrated, continuously and for a long period, within the limits of the
State of Connecticut." In 1789, several years after the formation of the United States, the Vatican erected the
Diocese of Baltimore to cover its entire territory, including Connecticut. Several years later, in 1808, the Vatican erected the
Diocese of Boston, containing Connecticut and the rest of
New England. Until 1818, Congregationalism was the official religion in the state, receiving taxpayer support. When that status was repealed, it opened the door for the Catholic Church to establish itself in Connecticut. In the 1820s, Irish Catholic immigrants started arriving in Connecticut to construct the
Farmington Canal and
Enfield Falls Canal. The bishops in Boston, along with many of their priests, would periodically visit Catholic communities in Connecticut to celebrate mass, perform marriages, and baptize babies. Bishop
Benedict Fenwick of Boston in 1829 purchased an existing
Episcopalian church in Hartford to create Holy Trinity, the first Catholic church in the state. In 1835, a church census found 720 Catholics in the state. By the 1840s, the population in the region had grown sufficiently to move Fenwick to petition the Vatican for a diocese for
Connecticut and
Rhode Island.
1843 to 1858 On November 28, 1843,
Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Hartford, which included both Connecticut and Rhode Island. The pope selected
William Tyler of Boston as the first bishop of Hartford. At the time of its creation, the Diocese of Hartford had only 600 Catholics living in Hartford as opposed to 2,000 in Providence. For that reason, Tyler petitioned the Vatican to move the diocesan see to Providence. As bishop, Tyler refused a carriage, going everywhere by foot. He arranged for food to be distributed at his house every Monday to the hungry. He personally went out on sick calls in the parish. Tyler recruited clergy from
All Hallows College in Ireland, and received financial assistance from the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith in
Lyon, France, and the
Leopoldine Society in Austria. Tyler died in 1849 after six years in office. The second bishop of Hartford was
Bernard O'Reilly of the Diocese of New York, named by Pope Pius IX in 1850. He worked to secure priests for the diocese, and defended Catholics from the
anti-Catholic movements of the era. He funded St. Mary's Theological Seminary, located initially in the episcopal residence, and taught the first week of classes. In 1852 he traveled to Europe in an attempt to obtain more priests for the diocese. Among those recruited were a number of students from
All Hallows College, Dublin. In January 1856, O'Reilly was lost at sea on board the steamer
Pacific. The Diocese of Hartford would be without a bishop for the next two years.
1858 to 1877 Francis McFarland of New York was named bishop of Hartford by Pius IX in 1858. Due to his declining health, McFarland petitioned the Vatican to divide his diocese. In 1872, the Vatican erected the
Diocese of Providence, taking all of the Rhode Island from the Diocese of Hartford. The diocese was reduced to the state of Connecticut and
Fisher's Island in New York. After the division, McFarland purchased the Morgan estate for the construction of a cathedral. He introduced into the diocese the Franciscan Friars, the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, who settled at
Winsted, the Christian Brothers, the Sisters of Charity, and the Congregation De Notre Dame. He also built a convent near the cathedral for the Sisters of Mercy. McFarland died in 1874.
1877 to 1945 Thomas Galberry, an
Augustinian friar and former president of
Villanova College, was installed as the 4th bishop of Hartford in 1877. Galberry only served for two years before an abrupt death but he was able to lay down the cornerstone of the original cathedral. Galberry was followed by
Lawrence S. McMahon. McMahon had served as chaplain with the
28th Massachusetts. Under his leadership of 14 years, 48 parishes as well as 16 school parishes were established. The sixth bishop,
Michael Tierney, helped with the creation of five diocesan hospitals. The pope in 1953 elevated the Diocese of Hartford to the Archdiocese of Hartford. The pope also erected the new Dioceses of
Norwich and
Bridgeport, taking their territory from the archdiocese, but making them suffragan dioceses of it. O'Brien was named as the first archbishop of Hartford. The
Cathedral of St. Joseph was destroyed by a suspicious fire in 1956. O'Brien immediately began plans to construct a new cathedral on the same site. Ground was broken for the new edifice in 1958 and it was dedicated in 1962. O'Brien retired in 1968. In 1968, Bishop
John Whealon from the
Diocese of Erie was appointed archbishop of Hartford by
Pope Paul VI. During his 23-year-long administration, Whealon established a program to train married men to be ordained as
deacons, advocated the promotion of women within the structure of the church, and developed a team ministry in which clerical and lay people administer a parish together. In 1986, he appointed Sister
Helen M. Feeney to be first woman chancellor of the archdiocese and only the fifth woman chancellor in the country. Whealon also founded the radio station
WJMJ in Hartford. He was active on
ecumenical issues, and was chair of the Committee on Ecumenism of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops and head of ChrisConn, the Christian conference of Connecticut. Mansell retired in 2013. Mansell was succeeded in 2013 by Bishop
Leonard Blair of the
Diocese of Toledo, appointed by
Pope Francis. In October 2020,
Michael J. McGivney, the founder of the
Knights of Columbus, was beatified in a ceremony at the
Cathedral of St. Joseph. McGivney had served as a curate at
St. Mary's Church in
New Haven in 1882. In March 2023, a
eucharistic miracle allegedly happened during a Mass at St. Thomas Church in
Thomaston where McGivney had last served as pastor. An
extraordinary minister of Holy Communion was running out of
hosts during
communion. It was reported that the hosts self-multiplied in the
ciborium. The archdiocese forwarded the claim to the
Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican for investigation. On June 26, 2023, Pope Francis appointed Bishop
Christopher J. Coyne of the
Diocese of Burlington as coadjutor archbishop to assist Archbishop Blair until his retirement in 2024. Coyne appeared at a press conference at the Pastoral Center in Bloomfield with his three predecessor archbishops.
Reports of sex abuse In February 2005, Roman Kramek, a former archdiocesan priest, was deported to Poland after serving nine months in prison for sexually assaulting a teenage girl in 2002. In November 2005, the archdiocese paid $22 million to settle sexual abuse claims brought by 43 people against 14 priests, the majority of cases occurring in the 1960s and 1970s. In August 2013, Michael Miller, a Franciscan friar who previously served at St Paul Parish in
Kensington, pleaded guilty to possession of
child pornography, publishing an obscenity, and three counts of risk of injury to a minor. On January 22, 2019, the archdiocese released a list of 48 clergy who were "credibly accused" of committing acts of sex while serving in the archdiocese. The archdiocese also revealed that $50.6 million was paid to settle more than 140 claims of sexual abuse. Goncalo committed suicide in 1991. ==Coat of arms==