Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Providence

Providentien(sis)

The Diocese of Providence is a Latin Church diocese coextensive with the state of Rhode Island, erected in 1872 and a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Hartford. Its current ordinary is Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, appointed in April 2025 and installed in May 2025.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
16 February 1872
Latin
Providentien(sis)
Patron
Our Lady of Providence
Annuario code
001002671

The see in figures

Catholics
679,000
Population
2,018
Priests
195
Catholics per priest
3,482
Extent
3,247 km²
Catholics per km²
209

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
Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R.

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 Saints Peter and Paul stands in Providence, 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 Hartford

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Hartford.

The sees of this province:

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

History

Rhode Island, in the United States, is served by the Diocese of Providence (Latin: Dioecesis Providentiensis), a Catholic diocese erected in 1872 and now a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Hartford. Its mother church is the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul in Providence, and Bruce Lewandowski serves as bishop.

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].