The Diocese of Menevia () was a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the Catholic Church in Wales. It was one of two

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

s 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 (Dewi) 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 The (Latin for ''Annals of Wales'') is the title given to a complex of Latin chronicles compiled or derived from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales. The earliest is a 12th-century presumed copy of a mid-10th-century original; later ...

'' and '' Brut y Tywysogion'' ( Rolls Series). On 12 May 1898, the

Apostolic Vicariate An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

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 Diocese of St Davids is a diocese of the Church in Wales, a church of the Anglican Communion. The diocese covers the historic extent of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, together with a small part of western Glamorgan. The ...

. ("Menevia" was the Roman name for

St Davids St Davids or St David's (, , "David's house”) is a cathedral city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies on the River Alun and is part of the community of St Davids and the Cathedral Close. It is the resting place of Saint David, Wales's ...

.) The Catholic diocese was led by Mark O'Toole,

Archbishop of Cardiff The Archbishop of Cardiff-Menevia is the ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia. The position came about after the merger of the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the Diocese of Menevia in 2024, afte ...

, 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 David (; ; ) was a Welsh Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Mynyw during the 6th century. He is the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail about his life. ...

becomes bishop * 21 January 1560: diocese disestablished (

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

), becomes the protestant

. * 29 September 1850:

Universalis Ecclesiae was a papal bull of 29 September 1850 by which Pope Pius IX recreated the Roman Catholic diocesan hierarchy in England, which had been extinguished with the death of the last Marian bishop in the reign of Elizabeth I. New names were given to ...

: 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.History
from Cardiff Cathedral retrieved 5 April 2014 * 12 May 1898: The Apostolic Vicariate of Wales become the Diocese of Menevia with

Wrexham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, also known as St Mary's Cathedral or Wrexham Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Wrexham, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Wrexham, and mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of W ...

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 priest In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

s, 19 religious priests, 9 non-ordained male

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

and 100 female religious. There are 34 Catholic educational institutions in the then-diocese, including three secondary schools: * St Joseph's Catholic School and Sixth-Form Centre, Port Talbot * St John Lloyd Catholic Comprehensive School, Llanelli * Bishop Vaughan Catholic School, Swansea Founded in 1965, St Joseph's School was the first Catholic

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

in Wales. The geographic remit consisted of the City and County of

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

and

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community (Wales), community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which d ...

, and the traditional counties of

Brecknockshire Brecknockshire ( or ), also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon, was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was created in 1 ...

Cardiganshire Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Ab ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

and

Radnorshire Radnorshire () was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974, later becoming a Districts of Wales, district of Powys from 1974 to 1996. It covered a sparsely populat ...

- an area of roughly. The

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

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 Edward Mostyn (6 August 1860 – 25 October 1939) was a Catholic Church in England and Wales, Welsh Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Cardiff from 1921 until his death in 1939. Biography Francis Edward Joseph Mostyn was bo ...

† (4 July 1895 – 7 March 1921 appointed archbishop of

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

) * Francis J. Vaughan † (21 June 1926 – 13 March 1935 died) * Michael Joseph McGrath † (10 August 1935 – 20 June 1940 appointed archbishop of Cardiff) * Daniel Joseph Hannon † (15 March 1941 – 26 April 1946 died) * John Edward Petit † (8 February 1947 – 16 June 1972 retired) * Langton Douglas Fox † (16 June 1972 – 5 February 1981 resigned) * John Aloysius Ward, OFM Cap † (5 February 1981 succeeded – 25 March 1983 appointed archbishop of Cardiff) *

James Hannigan James Hannigan (born 23 July 1971) is a BAFTA Award winning composer and producer. His credits include entries in the ''Harry Potter video games, Harry Potter'', ''Command & Conquer'', ''Dead Space 3, Dead Space'', ''List of Games Workshop vid ...

† (13 October 1983 – 12 February 1987 appointed bishop of

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

) * Daniel Joseph Mullins † (12 February 1987 – 12 June 2001 retired) * John Mark Jabalé (12 June 2001 – 16 October 2008 retired) * Thomas Matthew Burns (16 October 2008 – 11 July 2019 retired) * Mark O'Toole (Appointed 27 April 2022. Diocese merged with the Archdiocese of Cardiff ''in persona Episcopi''. Installed on 23 June 2022)

Coadjutor Bishops

* John Peter Mark Jabalé, O.S.B. (2000-2001) * John Aloysius Ward, O.F.M. Cap. † (1980-1981)

Auxiliary Bishop

* Langton Douglas Fox † (1965-1972), appointed Bishop of Menevia.

Another priest of this diocese who became bishop

Peter Malcolm Brignall Peter Malcolm Brignall (born 5 July 1953) is the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Bishop of Wrexham. Born in Whetstone, London on 5 July 1953, he was Holy Orders, ordained as a deacon by Victor Guazzelli, Auxiliary Bishop of Roman Catholic Archdi ...

(priest here, 1978–1987), 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: * Carmarthen Deanery * Llandrindod Wells Deanery * Pembroke Deanery * Port Talbot Deanery * Swansea Deanery

References

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia articleDiocese of Menevia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menevia Organisations based in Swansea Christian organizations established in 1898 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Cardiff 1898 establishments in Wales