Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford
The Archdiocese of Hartford is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties in the U.S. State of Connecticut. The archdiocese includes about 470,000 Catholics, more than 500 priests, 216 parishes and almost 300 deacons. This is roughly one-half the population of the three counties. The Archdiocese of Hartford is a metropolitan see. History. History of Catholics in Connecticut. In 1780-1781, the small town of Lebanon, Connecticut, had the distinction of being the place in which the Catholic "Mass was first celebrated, continuously  and for a long period, within the limits of the State of Connecticut." On June 26, 1881, St. Peter's parish, Hartford, celebrated "the centenary of the first Mass in Connecticut." The present territory of the archdiocese of Hartford was originally part of the Diocese of Boston until Bishop Benedict Joseph Fenwick of Boston expressed concern that there should be separate dioceses for Connecticut and Rhode Island in keeping with the growing Catholic population in those states. Diocese. On November 28, 1843, the Diocese of Hartford was established by Pope Gregory XVI with Willam Tyler as its first bishop. At  the time of its creation, there were 10,000 Catholics in the area. Tyler was able to petition successfully to move the See of Hartford to Providence, Rhode Island, in order to be nearer to the majority of the Catholics. He attended the Seventh Provincial Council of Baltimore which convened 5 May 1849, but weakened by consumption died the following month, having served for 5 years. The second bishop, Bernard O'Reilly, spent his time securing priests for the still young diocese all the while helping to curb the anti-Catholic movements of the time propagated by the Know Nothing Party. To  provide for the education of the young, O'Reilly brought to his diocese the Sisters of Mercy, establishing them in his episcopal city in 1851. In January 1856, O'Reilly was lost at sea on board the steamer "Pacific". It wasn't until two years later that the third bishop of the diocese was installed, Francis Patrick McFarland, known as the "Civil War Bishop." Despite ill health, McFarland was able to participate in the First Vatican Council (1869-1870). As a result of his increasingly poor health, Bishop McFarland requested that his diocese be divided to lessen his burden. In 1872, the  Diocese of Providence comprising the state of Rhode Island and four counties in Southeastern Massachusetts was established. Bishop McFarland returned the See of Hartford to its original home city, and his territory was reduced to the state of Connecticut and Fisher's Island, NY. Thomas Galberry, an Augustinian friar and former president of Villanova College, was installed as the 4th bishop of Hartford in 1877. Galberry only served for two years before an abrupt death but he was able to lay down the cornerstone of the original cathedral. Galberry was followed by Lawrence S. McMahon. McMahon had served as chaplain  with the 28th Massachusetts. Under his leadership of 14 years, 48 parishes as well as 16 school parishes were established. The sixth bishop, Michael Tierney, helped with the creation of 5 diocesan hospitals. John Joseph Nilan became the seventh bishop while John Murray became the first auxiliary bishop of Hartford. Murray would later become the Archbishop of St. Paul. Archdiocese. In 1945, Henry Joseph O'Brien was installed as the ninth bishop of Hartford. During his tenure, the diocese became an archdiocese under Pope Pius XII in 1953, and thus O'Brien became the first archbishop of Hartford. At this time, the  suffragan dioceses of Norwich in the eastern and Bridgeport in the southwestern portions of the state were formed. On October 31st, 2020, Michael J. McGivney, who founded the Knights of Columbus within the then Diocese of Hartford in 1882 was beatified at a mass celebrated in the Cathedral of St. Joseph. A concurrent ceremony was held at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, CT, where McGivney was assigned as an associate pastor. Reports of sex abuse. There have been a number of trials concerning child abuse. In February 2005, former Archdiocese of Hartford priest Roman Kramek was deported back  to his native country of Poland after serving nine months in prison for sexually assaulting a teenage girl who had sought his spiritual counseling in 2002. In August 2013, Michael Joseph Miller, who previously served at St Paul's church in New Britain, plead guilty to possession of child pornography, publishing an obscenity, and three counts of risk of injury to a minor. He was then sentenced to 5-20 years in prison. On January 22, 2019, the Archdiocese of Hartford released a list of 48 clergy who were "credibly accused" of committing acts of sex while serving in the  archdiocese. The archdiocese also revealed that $50.6 million was paid to settle more than 140 claims of sexual abuse. In March 2020, a joint settlement of $7.48 million was issued by both the Archdiocese of Hartford and Hopkins School in New Haven for shielding acts of abuse committed by Archdiocese of Hartford teacher Glenn Goncalo when he taught at Hopkins between at least 1990 and 1991. Goncalo committed suicide in 1991 as arraignments were being made for him to surrender to the police. Coat of arms. The web site of the Archdiocese of Hartford provides the following description  of its coat of arms, shown in the information box to the right at the beginning of the article: "The arms of the Archdiocese of Hartford are called canting arms or armes parlantes, which speak or proclaim the name of the bearer. It displays a hart (deer) crossing a ford (hart+ford = Hartford), and is analogue to the ancient arms of the City of Oxford in England which displays an ox crossing a ford in the same manner. The hart bears a Paschal banner, a symbol of Jesus Christ. The wavy silver and blue lines at the base of the  shield are the heraldic convention for water and are an allusion to the Connecticut River which flows through the state." The web site credits Pierre de Chaignon Larose for the design, introduced during Nilan’s term as the seventh Bishop of Hartford (1910-1934). Bishops. The following are the lists of ordinaries (bishops of the diocese) and auxiliary bishops, and their terms of service. They are followed by other priests of this diocese who became bishops. Parishes. Due to ongoing pastoral planning within the archdiocese, many parish churches have been consolidated and now share a pastor and other clergy and  administrative staff. In this list, individual church buildings that are open for worship will be listed, in the first column, with a wikilink to an article about the church where available. The second column lists the name of the parish (if different from the name of the church), along with a link to the parish website if available. Former Churches Archives. Despite disagreement with the majority of genealogists, this particular archdiocese holds firm in their belief that none of their records will be made public for genealogical research. This is a particular hindrance to those wishing to study records of  Acadians who were deported to this area in the 1700's, as well as tracing French Canadian families who worked in industrial mills, as they frequently moved throughout various portions of New England and New York. According to the official policy of the Archdiocese, "Sacramental Records are he property of the Church and are not public records in the sense that they are not open to immediate examination and inspection by anyone for whatever reason." They further state, in regards to the only written requests, the only way to request of genealogical records, "Fulfillment of requests is a courtesy, if  and when time permits. Restrictions and additional fees may apply. Results are not guaranteed." This is in contrast to the policy of a nearby Archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Boston, who has partnered with American Ancestors to make their records publicly accessible