The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham is one of the principal Latin-rite Catholic administrative divisions of England and Wales in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.
The archdiocese covers an area of 3,373 square miles (8,740 km2) of the counties of Oxfordshire (parts), Staffordshire, West Midlands, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. The metropolitan see is in the City of Birmingham at the Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Saint Chad.
Erected as the Vicariate Apostolic of the Midlands District in 1688, the vicariate grew very slowly until the advent of the industrial revolution. In respose to the large growth the name was changed in 1840 to the Vicariate Apostolic of Central District and a new vicariate created out of the eastern district.
Finally, in September 1850, the vicariate was elevated to a full diocese, as the Diocese of Birmingham, along with the Diocese of Nottingham and the Diocese of Shrewsbury. The diocese was then suffragan to the Archdiocese of Westminster.
The Diocese of Birmingham was elevated to archdiocese status on 28 October 1911.
The metropolitan province includes the suffragan dioceses of Clifton and Shrewsbury.
The Archbishop is Bernard Longley, who was named the ninth Archbishop of Birmingham on 1 October 2009. He succeeds the Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols (2000-2009). Bishop Longley was installed as Archbishop of Birmingham at the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of Saint Chad on 8 December 2009, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and one of the patronal feasts of the Archdiocese, St Chad being the other.
Read more about Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Birmingham: Diocesan Boundaries, Ordinaries, Sexual Abuse Scandal
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