Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
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Archdiocese of Boston Archidioecesis Bostoniensis |
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Coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Boston
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| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Territory | Counties of Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Plymouth (the towns of Mattapoisett, Marion, and Wareham excepted) |
| Ecclesiastical province | Boston |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 2,465 sq mi (6,380 km2) |
| Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2013) 4,240,000 1,906,372 (45%) |
| Parishes | 288 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | April 8, 1808 |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of the Holy Cross |
| Patron saint | Saint Patrick |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Seán Patrick O'Malley |
| Auxiliary Bishops | |
| Vicar General | Peter J. Uglietto |
| Emeritus Bishops | |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| www |
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston (Latin: Archidioecesis Bostoniensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States. It comprises several counties of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is led by a prelate archbishop who serves as pastor of the mother church, Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End of Boston.
As of 2009, there are 292 parishes in the archdiocese. In 2007, the archdiocese estimated that 1.8 million Catholics were in the territory, of whom about 315,000 regularly attended Mass.
The original Diocese of Boston was canonically erected on April 8, 1808 by Pope Pius VII. It took its territories from the larger historic Diocese of Baltimore and consisted of the states of Connecticut, (future) Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
In the nineteenth century, as Catholicism grew exponentially in New England, the Diocese of Boston was carved into smaller new dioceses: on November 28, 1843, Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Hartford; Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Burlington and the Diocese of Portland on July 29, 1853, the Diocese of Springfield on June 14, 1870, and the Diocese of Providence on February 16, 1872. On February 12, 1875, Pope Pius IX elevated the diocese to the rank of an archdiocese.
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