We Salute You, Diocese of Charleston, SC!

Pope Pius VII established the Diocese of Charleston in 1820 (James Madison was President). John Bishop was consecrated as the first Bishop while still in Ireland, and caused a stir but not reciting the oath of allegiance to the Crown - he said he intended on becoming an American.

Bishop England was quite a character. His See covered three states - North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Most of the Catholics in the diocese (the Bishop estimated there were about 11,000) were poor Irish and Dominican refugees. He established a seminary and college called,""The Philosophical and Classical Seminary of Charleston", where he taught Classics and was a Professor of Theology. He organized a Book Society for each parish, published the first Catholic newspaper in America, compiled a catechism, wrote a new Missal in English, was a member of the Philosophical Society of Charleston, and helped in organizing the Antiduelling Society. He founded free schools for Black boys and girls, and said Mass for the local free and slave Blacks every Sunday in the Cathedral.


Four diocese have since been carved out of the original - Atlanta, Raleigh, Savannah, and Charlotte.

The current Bishop is Robert Gugliemone, a New Yorker and fourth degree Knight of Columbus!