Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans - Bishops

Bishops

The Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas was erected on April 25, 1793; it encompassed the area claimed by Spain as Luisiana, which was all the land draining into the Mississippi River from the west, as well as Spanish territory to the east of the river in modern-day Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

• † Luis Ignatius Peñalver y Cárdenas — appointed September 12, 1794 (installed 1795), elevated July 20, 1801 to the see of Guatemala; the first bishop of Louisiana and the Two Floridas.
• † Francisco Porró y Reinado — appointed July 20, 1801, transferred January 17, 1803; never took formal possession of the diocese and was transferred to the see of Tarazona.

In April, 1803, the United States purchased Louisiana from France, which had in 1800 forced Spain to retrocede the territory in the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. The United States took formal possession of New Orleans on December 20, 1803, and of Upper Louisiana on March 10, 1804. The then-Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore served as apostolic administrator of the diocese from 1805 to 1812; during this period, the diocese became a suffragan of Baltimore. Archbishop Carroll's successor as apostolic administrator would eventually be the diocese's first resident bishop of the 19th century.

• † Louis-Guillaume Dubourg — appointed apostolic administrator, August 18, 1812, appointed bishop September 18, 1815 (installed 1818 at St. Louis), resigned February 2, 1825.

In 1823, Joseph Rosati was appointed coadjutor bishop of the diocese. In 1825, the territory of the diocese in what is now Alabama and Florida was transferred to the new Vicariate Apostolic of Alabama and the Floridas, and in 1826, the diocese was renamed, becoming the Diocese of New Orleans. At the same time, the diocese's territory was further reduced by the creation of the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi and the Diocese of St. Louis. Bishop Rosati served as the diocese's apostolic administrator from 1826 to 1829; having been appointed bishop of St. Louis two years previously, he resigned the administration of the New Orleans diocese upon the appointment of Bishop de Neckere.

• † Leo-Raymond de Neckere — appointed August 4, 1829, died September 4, 1833; the first bishop of New Orleans to use that title.
• † Antoine Blanc — appointed June 19, 1835, elevated July 19, 1850; the first archbishop of New Orleans. Upon the elevation of the diocese, its territory outside the state of Louisiana became the Vicariate Apostolic of Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains.

† = deceased