Boundary Map of Salford Diocese

Salford Diocese was one of the original diocese established when the Hierarchy of England and Wales was restored in 1850. Catholic dioceses had ceased to exist after the Reformation.

After many decades, Rome appointed a Vicar Apostolic, a bishop who reported directly to Rome, to oversee the Catholics remaining in England, often in geographical clusters around recusant gentry families. The country was later divided into four Apostolic Districts, each with its own Vicar Apostolic. After the so-called "Glorious Revolution", Catholics were suspected of being Jacobite supporters, especially in 1715 and 1745. The Hanoverian kings slowly shed this fear. Toleration became acceptable, especially in the light of the French Revolution.

The two Catholic Relief Acts of 1778 and 1791 and the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 restored freedom of worship and education to Catholics, although by now deep suspicion of Catholicism had infiltrated the English psyche, and led to occasional riots and more frequently discrimination. However the number of English Catholics continued to increase, especially in the new industrial centres, aided by the arrival of many Irish working on canal and railway construction and in the new industries. In 1840 the four Apostolic Districts were divided into eight, and the Lancashire District under Bishop Brown was established.

William Turner (1799-1872) became the Vicar General for the Hundreds of Salford and Blackburn, and when these areas were formed into the Salford Diocese, he became our first bishop in 1851.

Turner faced horrendous problems. In the aftermath of the Potato Famine in which so many Irish died, the Catholic population had increased significantly, yet one tenth of the English priests in Lancashire had in 18 months died of the fever in tending the sick. Volunteer priests came from the Continent, from Ireland, and from other parts of England. Many areas of the diocese were devoid of both Catholic churches and schools.

The Cotton Famine caused by overproduction and the American Civil War suddenly curtailed the progress that was being made. Nevertheless Turner created the basis of our network of parishes and schools before his death shortly after the First Vatican Council. Two religious congregations, the Sisters of the Cross and Passion and the Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph (the Rescue Nuns) were founded in the diocese.

Bishop Vaughan (1832-1903) later Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, was our next Bishop, 1872-1892. He continued the steady pastoral provision begun by Turner, and saw an increase in the number of religious orders working in the diocese. Perhaps his greatest monument was the founding of the Children's Protection and Rescue Society that still does so much good work. The monthly magazine "The Harvest" was founded, to run for just short of a century, a valuable source of information today.

Bishop Bilsborrow (1836-1903) like Vaughan, made strenuous efforts to reduce the debt owned on churches and especially on our schools, as Catholics competed to provide a Catholic education for Catholic children in the face of School Board provision funded by the rates. New government grants eventually became available through the Voluntary Schools Association. Parishes and schools continued to expand in number.

Louis Charles Casartelli (1852-1925) was a linguist, an internationally renowned academic, who had taught all his priestly life until he was made bishop in 1903. Under his guidance relationships were established with the newly created Local Education Authorities. An increase in secondary provision was provided by the founding of several new Catholic Grammar Schools. Government attempts to reverse the 1902 Education Act occasioned vigorous reaction. Catholic organisations had tended to cater for spiritual or social need, through confraternities, guilds, sick and burial societies and the SVP. They now expanded into a more active apostolate, with the establishment of the Catenians, the Catholic Federation, and the Catholic Social Guild, and for younger parishioners, movements such as the Catholic Boys Brigade, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides, as they were then called. The Great War and its aftermath, both social and economic, cast its grim shadow over his later years.

Bishop Henshaw (1873-1938) a pastorally minded and pragmatic parish priest with financial acumen and quiet scholarship became the next bishop. In 1926 the diocese hosted the National Catholic Congress in Manchester. Education was Henshaw's forte, even if the vision of Catholic education in Westminster and in Salford occasionally clashed! Particular problems of physically defective "blacklisted" schools and of the beginning of slum clearance in inner urban areas, taxed the mind and pocket of the Catholic community. This was ever truer when the 1936 Education Act separated schools into Junior and Senior Schools and ended, at least in theory, the all age parish elementary school. The lay organisations continued to develop, with notable newcomers such as the Legion of Mary and the Young Christian Workers. Henshaw's attitude to the continual shortage of priests was simple. Pray and the Lord will provide. The people prayed, and the Lord provided!

Henry Vincent Marshall (1884-1955) became bishop on the eve of the Second World War. Mobilisation, conscription, evacuation, war work, war-time shortages and the blitz placed grave pressures on families and parishes. Several churches and schools were bombed. The 1944 Education Act radically changed the school situation, and placed immense financial burdens on Catholics who wished to keep their schools. Marshall created a "School Emergency Fund" which still levies parishes today. Post war slum clearance and the creation of overspill estates added to his burdens. New parishes and schools, primary and secondary, were opened. The diocese was legally registered as a charity in 1954. Such was the bishop's leadership and grasp of detail that the diocese was humourously described as being under "Martial Law".

Bishop Beck (1904-1978) later Archbishop of Liverpool, continued the substantial expansion of new parishes and schools begun by Marshall to implement the 1944 Education Act. Beck was an educational expert, and successfully led negotiations with successive governments to better the position of Catholic schools across the country. He died shortly after the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Bishop Thomas Holland (1908-1999) a war time naval chaplain, became the next bishop in 1964 and led the diocese in the implementation of the decrees of the Second Vatican Council. Some new parishes were opened. The former inner city areas, once the very centre of the Catholic community but now bereft of population saw the beginning of the closures of some parishes. A rationalisation of Sunday Mass times was implemented. Perhaps the most courageous, and certainly controversial, decision was the one to make our secondary schools comprehensive. During his episcopacy, Pope John Paul II visited the country and ordained priests at the Heaton Park Mass and the National Pastoral Congress took place at Liverpool. Newer forms of lay apostolate emerged, often based at national level, while many traditional parish based groups declined or disappeared.

Bishop Patrick Kelly served as our bishop 1984-1996 before becoming Archbishop of Liverpool. Perhaps he is best remembered for the introduction of the new Sacramental Programme with children being confirmed before their First Communion. With the decrease in population and in the number of priests, a consolidation of pastoral provision saw the closure of several more parishes.

Bishop Terence Brain was appointed bishop in 1997. Having revised the Sacramental Programme, he is presently leading the diocese in a consultation on "Faith in the Future"

David Lannon Diocesan Archivist

Click to visit: Salford Diocesan Archives Website

The archives are open to bona fide researchers, especially if their research touches parish or diocesan history.

Secular 
priests

Regular
priests

Salford Diocese: | About us | News & Events | Press | Links | Visitors Book | Contact us