Archdiocese of Birmingham
Birminghamien(sis)
Metropolitan see · Latin Church · Birmingham, United Kingdom
The Archdiocese of Birmingham is a Latin rite metropolitan archdiocese in the English Midlands, erected as a diocese in 1850 at the restoration of the hierarchy and elevated to an archdiocese in 1911. It heads the Province of Birmingham. Its seat is the Metropolitan Cathedral of St Chad in Birmingham.
The see
- Rank
- Metropolitan see
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 29 September 1850
- Latin
- Birminghamien(sis)
- Patron
- Our Lady Conceived Without Sin and St Chad
- Annuario code
- 001000905
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 443,300
- Population
- 4,993,000
- Catholic share
- 8.9%
- Priests
- 214
- Catholics per priest
- 2,071
- Extent
- 8,735 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 51
of the people living within its bounds
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Archbishop
- Bernard Longley
- Born
- 5 April 1955
- Birthplace
- Manchester
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
Metropolitan Cathedral of St Chad, Birmingham stands in Birmingham, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Birmingham
This see is the metropolitan of its province.
The sees of this province:
- Diocese of CliftonClifton
- Diocese of ShrewsburyShrewsbury
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
Among the principal Latin Church dioceses of the Catholic Church in England and Wales stands the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Its territory of 3,373 square miles (8,740 km2) takes in the historic counties of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire. The metropolitan see rests in the City of Birmingham at the Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Saint Chad, and the province embraces the suffragan dioceses of Clifton and Shrewsbury.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
The see's own website · Wikipedia
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].