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1700 to 1808

Before the American Revolution, the British Province of Massachusetts Bay, which included southern Massachusetts and Cape Cod, had enacted laws prohibiting the practice of Catholicism in the colony. It was even illegal for a priest to reside there. To gain the support of Massachusetts Catholics to fight against the British, revolutionary leaders were forced to enact religious freedom for Catholics in 1780. After the Revolution ended in 1783, Pope Pius VI erected in 1784 the Prefecture Apostol...

1808 to 1900

Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Boston on April 8, 1808, including all of New England in its jurisdiction. Bishop Jean-Louis de Cheverus of Boston established St Lawrence's Church, the first Catholic church in New Bedford and in 1821 with the assistance of Portuguese sailors and Irish laborers. The first Catholic church on Cape Cod was St. Peter's, constructed in Sandwich in 1830. Fall River received it first Catholic church in 1837 when St. John the Baptist was completed. In 1869, the f...

1900 to 1950

Pope Pius X erected the Diocese of Fall River on March 12, 1904. He took all of the Massachusetts counties from Diocese of Providence for the new diocese, making it a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Boston. He appointed Reverend William Stangof Providence as the first bishop of Fall River. At the time of his appointment, the new diocese had 44 parishes serving 130,000 Catholics. On May 8, 1904, St. Mary's Cathedral was packed with worshipers for Stang's first mass, with police detachments con...

Bishops of Fall River

1. William Stang(1904–1907) 2. Daniel Francis Feehan(1907–1934) 3. James Edwin Cassidy (1934–1951; coadjutor bishop1934) 4. James Louis Connolly(1951–1970; coadjutor bishop 1945–1951) 5. Daniel Anthony Cronin (1970–1992), appointed Archbishop of Hartford 6. Seán Patrick O'Malley (1992–2002), appointed Bishop of Palm Beach and later Archbishop of Boston (created Cardinalin 2006) 7. George William Coleman(2003–2014) 8. Edgar Moreira da Cunha(2014–present)

Auxiliary Bishops of Fall River

1. James Edwin Cassidy (1930-1934), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Fall River (see above) 2. James Joseph Gerrard(1959-1976)

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

1. John Edward Morris(priest here, 1914–1921), appointed Prefect of Peng-Yang in 1930 2. William Otterwell Brady, appointed Bishop of Sioux Falls in 1939 3. Humberto Sousa Medeiros, appointed Bishop of Brownsville in 1966 and Archbishop of Boston in 1970; future Cardinal 4. Joseph Patrick Delaney(priest here, 1960–1971), appointed Bishop of Fort Worth in 1981

Schools

1. Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River 2. Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth 3. Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro 4. Saint John Paul II High School in Hyannis

Colleges

1. Stonehill

Superintendents

The current Superintendent of Schools is Stephen Perla.The following is a list of superintendents: 1. George A. Milot, PhD (2001–2011) 2. Michael S. Griffin (2011–2016) 3. Stephen Perla (2016 – present)

In addition to St. Mary's Cathedral, two other major churches in the diocese are St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, Santo Christo Church and Shrine, and St. Anne'sboth in Fall River. The Diocese of Fall River is also home to the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, owned and operated by the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette. The shrine...