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The Diocese of Atlanta

The Diocese of Atlanta was established in 1956 when the northern 71 counties of Georgia were separated from the Diocese of Savannah and assigned to the new diocese giving the state two dioceses. The number was later reduced to 69 when two counties were returned to the jurisdiction of the Savannah Diocese. At the time, the Diocese of Atlanta, which covered 23,000 square miles, numbered 23,600 Catholics in 23 parishes and 12 missions. The total population in the region totaled 1,800,000. The first Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta was Francis E. Hyland (b.1901, d.1968), who had served as Auxiliary Bishop of Savannah since 1949. He began his service to the new diocese as the city of Atlanta and the Catholic population of the area was experiencing rapid growth. Bishop Hyland resigned in 1961.

The Archdiocese of Atlanta

On February 21, 1962 the Diocese of Atlanta was elevated to the status of Archdiocese, becoming the center of an Ecclesiastical Province which included the states of Georgia, North and South Carolina and Florida. (Florida was detached in 1969 to become the Province of Miami). That year the Catholic population of the diocese numbered 32,000 out of a total population of 2,152,000. When the Diocese of Atlanta became the Archdiocese of Atlanta, the ecclesiastical Province of Atlanta came into being as well.

Click here if you are interested in the entire history of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.