History of the Archdiocese of Atlanta

The Catholic Church in Georgia

The Catholic population in North Georgia can trace its beginnings to a simple log church in Locust Grove where a small group of faithful worshiped in 1792. Since then the population has experienced steady growth. It was in 1850 that Catholics in Georgia and parts of Florida became a new diocese, the Diocese of Savannah. By the time of the Civil War there were 4,000 Catholics in Georgia alone, with parishes in Atlanta, Savannah, Macon, Columbus and Locust Grove.

After the war, along with the growth of the city of Atlanta, came a growth in the Catholic population. The first Catholic church in Atlanta, the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, built in 1849, was used as a hospital during the Civil War. Sacred Heart Parish was next established in 1880 when Atlanta only had 37,409 souls. In the same year the Sisters of Mercy opened an infirmary on Baker Street which later became St. Joseph's Hospital. St. Anthony's Church opened in 1903, adding a school in 1912, the same year that Our Lady of Lourdes Church opened.

The Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta

In 1936, the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta was established and the Cathedral of Christ the King on Peachtree Street was erected. Bishop Gerald P. O'Hara (b.1895-d.1963), appointed Bishop of Savannah in 1935, was the last Bishop to serve the faithful of the entire state of Georgia.

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 first 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.

The Archbishops

Paul J. Hallinan (b. 1911, d. 1968), Bishop of Charleston, S.C., was named the first Archbishop of Atlanta. During the last two years of his life, Archbishop Hallinan was assisted by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph L. Bernardin, who subsequently became Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago.

Since Archbishop Hallinan’s reign, the Archdiocese has been served by five succeeding archbishops. Thomas A. Donnellan (b.1914, d.1987) was Archbishop from 1968 until his death. Eugene A. Marino (b.1934, d.2000), the first black Archbishop in the United States, served from 1988 to 1990. James P. Lyke (b.1939, d.1992) was installed as Archbishop in 1991 and died the following year. John Francis Donoghue (b.1928) was appointed the fifth Archbishop of Atlanta in 1993 and served until his retirement in 2004.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, S.L.D. (b. 1947) was appointed sixth Archbishop of Atlanta on December 9, 2004 and was installed on January 17, 2005. He was ordained a Catholic priest at the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 9, 1973. He was then ordained a Bishop in 1983. Bishop Gregory was installed as the Seventh Bishop of Belleville in 1994, following ten years as Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago. In 2001, Bishop Gregory was elected President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, following three years as Vice President under Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston.

The Archdiocese Today

Since the beginning of Archbishop Gregory’s tenure in Atlanta, four additional parishes have been organized for a total of 101, while the Catholic population of the Archdiocese has risen to over 650,000. The oldest operating parish in the archdiocese, established in 1845, is Saint Joseph in Washington, Georgia. The oldest Catholic church still standing is Sacred Heart in Milledgeville, Georgia, which was built in 1874.

Edited by Archivist Carolyn S. Denton, August 27, 2008

Page last modified: August 29, 2008