Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise
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Diocese of Boise Dioecesis Xylopolitana |
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| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Territory | State of Idaho |
| Ecclesiastical province | Province of Portland |
| Metropolitan | Alexander King Sample |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 84,290 sq mi (218,300 km2) |
| Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2012) 1,567,582 172,434 (11.0%) |
| Parishes | 52 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | August 25, 1893 |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Bishop | Peter F. Christensen |
| Emeritus Bishops | Michael Patrick Driscoll |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| catholicidaho.org | |
The Diocese of Boise is an ecclesiastical territory (diocese) of the Catholic Church in the northwestern U.S., encompassing the entire state of Idaho. It is led by a bishop who serves as pastor of the cathedral, the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Boise. The diocese is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Portland.
The first Catholics to arrive in the territory that would eventually become the Diocese of Boise were French-Canadian fur trappers in the mid-eighteenth century. That remained the sole Catholic contact in the area until 1815, when 19 Iroquois migrated into Idaho from eastern Canada. These Iroquois had the rudiments of Catholic belief, and apparently spoke of the need for "black robes" to show the way to heaven. Thereafter, for the next twenty-five years, members of the Nez Perce and Flathead tribes made four journeys to St. Louis, Missouri, attempting to recruit a priest for their communities. Their efforts bore fruit when, in 1840, Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J., a Belgian missionary, was appointed to minister to them. The first Mass in Idaho was thus celebrated by Fr. De Smet on 22 July 1840 at Henry's Lake.
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