Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Salem

Salemen(sis)

Latin-rite diocese in Tamil Nadu, India, erected 26 May 1930 from parts of the Dioceses of Kumbakonam and Mysore and the Archdiocese of Pondicherry. A suffragan of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore, its seat is the Cathedral of the Infant Jesus in Salem, with St. Mary's Co-Cathedral at Shevapet, serving about 88,600 Catholics (2010).

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
26 May 1930
Latin
Salemen(sis)
Patron
Infant Jesus
Annuario code
001002846

The see in figures

Catholics
88,576
Population
5,687,860
Catholic share
1.6%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
141
Catholics per priest
628
Extent
8,368 km²
Catholics per km²
11

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
Arulselvam Rayappan
Born
18 November 1960
Birthplace
Sathipattu

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

Cathedral of the Infant Jesus, Salem stands in Salem, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

Its co-cathedral is St. Mary's Co-Cathedral, Shevapet.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Pondicherry and Cuddalore

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore.

The sees of this province:

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

History

Salem serves as the episcopal see of this Latin Church diocese in India (Latin: Salemen(sis)). Within the Catholic Church's structure it is a suffragan of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore, in whose ecclesiastical province it lies.

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].