Roman Catholics.
This denomination is spread over every section of the United States and the British Provinces. They form, it is stated, more than three fourths of the population of the Canadas. They are also found in large numbers in the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In this Union, they are most numerous in the Middle States; but in consequence of the great influx of this people into North America, and their frequent change of location, it is utterly impossible to state their numbers, in each state, with any degree of accuracy. Their number in the United States is variously stated from five hundred thousand to one million five hundred thousand. Their number, probably, is not less than eight hundred thousand, nor more than one million two hundred thousand. The population of Canada, in 1840, was at least one million.
The first Roman Catholics that came to this country were from England, under Lord Baltimore, a Catholic nobleman, in 1634. They settled the state of Maryland; and, much to their honor, while some of the Protestant provinces were persecuting all those who differed from them on religious subjects, the Catholic Marylanders protected all sects that were moral and civil in their deportment.
We copy from the “Metropolitan Catholic Almanac and Laity's Directory for 1841” the following statistical table:—
Statistics of the Catholic Church in the United States
| Diocese. | Churches and Chapels. | Clergymen in the Ministry. | Clergymen otherwise employed. | Eccl. Inst. | Clerical Students. |
| Baltimore | 68 | 38 | 31 | 4 | 52 |
| Richmond | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Philadelphia | 91 | 57 | 2 | 1 | 22 |
| New York | 64 | 65 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| Boston | 30 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Detroit | 25 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Cincinnati | 38 | 34 | 2 | 1 | |
| Vincennes | 27 | 25 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| Du Buque | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| St Louis | 56 | 50 | 23 | 2 | 30 |
| Bardstown | 40 | 26 | 25 | 1 | |
| Nashville | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| New Orleans | 38 | 39 | 11 | 1 | 9 |
| Natchez | 1 | 2 | |||
| Mobile | 7 | 12 | 7 | ||
| Charleston | 14 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Total | 512 | 436 | 109 | 17 | 144 |
| Diocese. | Literary Inst. for young Men. | Young Men in College. | Female Religious Inst. | Female Academ. | Pupils in Female Academ. |
| Baltimore | 5 | 633 | 5 | 9 | 530 |
| Richmond | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 100 |
| Philadelphia | 2 | 60 | 0 | 1 | 30 |
| New York | 1 | 0 | 2 | 120 | |
| Boston | 1 | 60 | 1 | 1 | |
| Detroit | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Cincinnati | 1 | 2 | 2 | 70 | |
| Vincennes | 1 | 50 | 1 | 1 | 50 |
| Du Buque | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| St Louis | 3 | 320 | 10 | 10 | 640 |
| Bardstown | 3 | 300 | 3 | 10 | 528 |
| Nashville | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| New Orleans | 1 | 100 | 4 | 4 | 526 |
| Natchez | 0 | 0 | |||
| Mobile | 2 | 70 | 2 | 2 | 60 |
| Charleston | 1 | 2 | 2 | 128 | |
| Total | 24 | 1593 | 31 | 49 | 2782 |
The sacred college of cardinals has fifty-seven members. The total number is seventy.
There are twelve patriarchs in the Christian world. The archbishops and bishops amount to six hundred and seventy-one. The vicars apostolic in different countries are fifty-seven in number, besides whom there are thirty-eight coadjutor-bishops, making the grand total of the Catholic episcopacy amount to seven hundred and sixty-six bishops.