Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth


The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth is a Roman Catholic archdiocese that includes part of the civil province of Nova Scotia.
The archdiocese has both a cathedral St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica in Halifax, and a co-cathedral St. Ambrose co-Cathedral, in Yarmouth. Its current diocesan ordinary is Archbishop Anthony Mancini.

History

On territory originally a part of the Diocese of Quebec, including the whole of Nova Scotia, the future diocese of Halifax was established on 4 September 1817 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Nova Scotia, a pre-diocesan jurisdiction entitled to a titular bishop and exempt, i.e., directly subject to the Holy See, not part of any ecclesiastical province.
It was promoted to a bishopric on 15 February 1842 and on 22 September 1844 lost territory to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arichat, now one of its suffragans.
In 1852, Halifax was elevated to an archdiocese.
It lost territory twice more: on 19 February 1953 to establish the Apostolic Prefecture of Bermuda Islands and on 6 July 1953 to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yarmouth.
It enjoyed a papal visit from Pope John Paul II in September 1984.
In December 2011, the Diocese of Yarmouth was merged back into the Archdiocese of Halifax, creating the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, which was renamed by absorbing its title. The former cathedral became the St. Ambrose Co-Cathedral, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Extent and province

The Archdiocese of Halifax covers 21,770 square kilometers. As of 2006, the archdiocese contained 53 parishes, 64 active diocesan priests, 16 religious priests, and 161,125 Catholics. It also had 243 women religious, 17 religious brothers, and 28 permanent deacons.
The metropolitan archbishop heads an ecclesiastical province which includes the suffragan dioceses of Antigonish and Charlottetown.

Bishops

; Apostolic Vicars of Nova Scotia
; Suffragan Bishops of Halifax
; Metropolitan Archbishops of Halifax
; Metropolitan Archbishops of Halifax-Yarmouth
  • Anthony Mancini
;Coadjutor bishops
; Other priests of this diocese who became bishops''