Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Clifton

Cliftonien(sis)

The Diocese of Clifton is a Latin rite diocese covering Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire in England, erected on 29 September 1850 from the Apostolic Vicariate of the Western District at the restoration of the hierarchy. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Its seat is the Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in Clifton, Bristol.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
29 September 1850
Latin
Cliftonien(sis)
Patron
Ss Peter and Paul; Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
Annuario code
001001178

The see in figures

Catholics
173,000
Population
2,664,300
Catholic share
6.5%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
83
Catholics per priest
2,084
Extent
10,916 km²
Catholics per km²
16

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

Bishop
Bosco MacDonald
Born
21 July 1963
Birthplace
Bath

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

Clifton Cathedral (Ss Peter and Paul), Bristol stands in Clifton, 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

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Birmingham.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

Centred at the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Clifton, England, the Diocese of Clifton is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church. Its territory of 4,215 square miles (10,920 km2) takes in the historic counties of Gloucestershire, Somerset, and Wiltshire, reaching from Welford-on-Avon in the north down to Minehead and Watchet in the south. Its most north-westerly parishes lie in the Forest of Dean, while Marlborough near Swindon stands among the most easterly.

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.

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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].