The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville is a Roman Catholic diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 in Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. It was founded on July 28, 1837 by the Dominican Bishop Richard Pius Miles

Richard Pius Miles

Richard Pius Miles, O.P. was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Nashville .Miles was born in Prince George's County, Maryland, and moved to Kentucky with his parents at age 5. After joining the Dominican Order in October 1806, he was ordained a priest on September 21, 1816...

. The Cathedral Church of the Incarnation is the seat of the Bishops of Nashville.

Extent of diocese

Prior to 1970, the diocese encompassed the entire state. At that time, Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI

Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...

 removed the westernmost counties in the state to create the new Diocese of Memphis

Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tennessee. It was founded on June 20, 1970, when Pope Paul VI removed the counties in the state west of the Tennessee River from the Diocese of Nashville, which, prior to that time, encompassed the entire state.The diocese is...

; 18 years later, Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 removed the easternmost counties to create the Diocese of Knoxville

Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tennessee. It was founded on May 27, 1988 from the eastern counties of the Diocese of Nashville. This diocese covers most of East Tennessee; in addition to the see city of Knoxville, it includes Chattanooga and Johnson City....

.

The diocese today

The remnant Nashville diocese now encompasses roughly the counties in the Middle Grand Division of the state, with the majority of its membership living in Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 and surrounding suburbs. However, some parishes outside that area have seen considerable growth in recent times due to the influx of Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 immigrants settling in some smaller communities; often, the Spanish-speaking membership outnumbers the English-speaking communicants in such churches.

The cathedral of the diocese is the Cathedral of the Incarnation, located on West End Avenue in Nashville, close to the Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

 campus. St. Mary's Church, located in downtown, served as the diocese's cathedral until 1914.

Ordinaries

The following is a list of Bishops who served the Diocese of Nashville, along with their dates of service:

• Richard Pius Miles
  Richard Pius Miles
  Richard Pius Miles, O.P. was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Nashville .Miles was born in Prince George's County, Maryland, and moved to Kentucky with his parents at age 5. After joining the Dominican Order in October 1806, he was ordained a priest on September 21, 1816...
  
  , OP
  Dominican Order
  The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
  
   (1837–1860)
• James Whelan
  James Whelan (bishop)
  James Whelan, O.P. was the second Roman Catholic Bishop of Nashville .Whelan was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, and moved with his parents to the United States at age 10 or 12, settling in New York. He joined the Dominican Order in 1839 at the novitiate in Springfield, Kentucky, and made his...
  
  , OP
  Dominican Order
  The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
  
   (1860–1864)
• Patrick Feehan
  Patrick Feehan
  Archbishop Patrick Augustine Feehan , was a U.S. Catholic bishop. He served as the fifth Bishop and first Archbishop of Chicago between 1880 and 1902, during which the church in Chicago was elevated to an archdiocese. Prior to moving to Chicago, Feehan served as the third bishop of the Diocese of...
  
   (1865–1880)
• Joseph Rademacher
  Joseph Rademacher (bishop)
  Joseph Rademacher was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Nashville, Tennessee and Bishop of Fort Wayne, Indiana .-Biography:...
  
   (1883–1893)
• Thomas Sebastian Byrne
  Thomas Sebastian Byrne
  Thomas Sebastian Byrne was an American Roman Catholic clergyman.Byrne was born in Hamilton, Ohio, and prepared for the priesthood at St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown, Kentucky; Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West in Cincinnati; and the Pontifical North American College in Rome...
  
   (1894–1923)
• Alphonse John Smith
  Alphonse John Smith
  Alphonse John Smith, was a 20th century bishop in the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as Bishop of the Diocese of Nashville from 1923-35.-Biography:...
  
   (1923–1935)
• William Lawrence Adrian
  William Lawrence Adrian
  William Lawrence Adrian, STL, DD was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Nashville in Nashville, Tennessee from 1936 to 1969.-Biography:...
  
   (1936–1969)
• Joseph Aloysius Durick
  Joseph Aloysius Durick
  Joseph Aloysius Durick was a U.S. Roman Catholic bishop and civil rights advocate. He publicly opposed the Vietnam War and the death penalty, which led to criticism from conservative circles...
  
   (1969–1975)
• James Daniel Niedergeses
  James Daniel Niedergeses
  James Daniel Niedergeses was an American Roman Catholic bishop. He was the ninth bishop of Nashville serving from 1975 to 1992....
  
   (1975–1992)
• Edward Urban Kmiec (1992–2004)
• David Raymond Choby
  David Choby
  David Raymond Choby is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the eleventh and current Bishop of Nashville, having previously served as Diocesan Administrator .-Early life:...
  
   (2005—)

Nashville Area

Antioch

• St. Ignatius

Brentwood

• Holy Family

Franklin

• St. Matthew
• St. Phillip

Gallatin

• St. John Vianney

Hendersonville

• Our Lady of the Lake

Joelton

• St. Lawrence

Lebanon

• St. Frances Cabrini

Nashville

• Cathedral of the Incarnation
• Assumption
• Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati (college chaplaincy at Vanderbilt University
  Vanderbilt University
  Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
  
  )
• Christ the King
• Holy Name
• Holy Rosary
• Mary, Queen of Angels
• Our Lady of Guadaloupe
• St. Anne
• St. Edward
• St. Henry
• St. Mary of the Seven Dolors (protocathedral)
• St. Patrick
• St. Pius X
• St. Vincent de Paul

Old Hickory

• St. Stephen

Outside Nashville

Alto

• St. Margaret Mary (mission)

Ashland City

• St. Martha

Cedar Hill

• St. Michael (mission)

Celina

• Divine Savior (mission)

Centerville

• Christ the Redeemer

Clarksville

• Immaculate Conception

Columbia

• St. Catherine

Cookeville

• St. Thomas Aquinas

Decherd

• Good Shepherd

Dickson

• St. Christopher

Dover

• St. Francis of Assisi

Fayetteville

• St. Anthony

Hohenwald

• Holy Trinity

Lafeyette

• Holy Family

Lawrenceburg

• Sacred Heart

Lewisburg

• St. John

Loretto

• Sacred Heart
• St. Joseph

Madison

• St. Joseph

Manchester

• St. Mark

McEwen

• St. Patrick

McMinnville

• St. Catherine

Murfreesboro

• St. Rose of Lima. When this church was proposed, the Ku Klux Klan
  Ku Klux Klan
  Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
  
   organized a march against it in 1929. The church predominately served Irish. Italian and German immigrants.

Pulaski

• Immaculate Conception

Shelbyville

• St. William

Smithville

• St. Gregory

Smyrna

• St. Luke

Sparta

• St. Andrew

Spring Hill

• Nativity

Springfield

• Our Lady of Lourdes

Tennessee Ridge

• St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Tullahoma

• St. Paul the Apostle

Waynesboro

• St. Cecilia

Nashville

• Christ the King (Pre K—8)
• Holy Rosary Academy (K-8)
• Overbrook School (Pre K—8)
• St. Ann School (Pre K—8)
• St. Bernard Academy(Pre K—8)
• St. Edward School (Pre K—8)
• St. Henry School (Pre K—8)
• St. Pius X Classical Academy (Pre K—8)

High schools

• Father Ryan High School
  Father Ryan High School
  Father Ryan High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Nashville, Tennessee. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville and named for Father Abram J. Ryan.-Campus:...
  
  , Nashville
• Pope John Paul II High School
  Pope John Paul II High School (Hendersonville, Tennessee)
  Pope John Paul II High School is a coeducational Catholic high school in Hendersonville, Tennessee just north of Nashville. It is administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville.-History:...
  
  , Hendersonville
• St. Cecilia Academy, Nashville

Colleges

• Aquinas College
  Aquinas College (Tennessee)
  Aquinas College is a Roman Catholic institution of higher learning located in Nashville, Tennessee, named in honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas.Aquinas College was founded by the Dominican Order in 1928 as St. Cecilia Normal School, and was first a school for nuns located at the St. Cecilia Motherhouse...
  
  , Nashville (run by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia
  Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia
  The Congregation of St. Cecilia, commonly known as the Nashville Dominicans, is a religious order within the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church located in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a member of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, one of the two organizations which represent women...
  
  )

External links

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville Home Page