Diocese of St. Augustine history

St Benedict the Moor School was built in 1871.

The Cathedral was damaged by fire again in 1887 but the interior had the potential to be saved.

After a serious outbreak of yellow fever in Tampa in 1888 that killed three there, Bishop Moore of the Diocese of St Augustine in desperation turned to the Jesuits from New Orleans for help.

In 1892, Josephite Bishop John Moore acquired land in St Augustine that once was part of the Yallaha plantation orange grove and began to develop the site for a church and school.

The first building erected, in 1898, is now the oldest surviving brick schoolhouse in St Augustine and one of the first schools for black children in Florida.

In 1905, a new Church was constructed in Romanesque style and the parish was renamed Sacred Heart.

The idea of publishing a Catholic magazine dates back to 1907 when Bishop William J. Kenny of the Diocese of Saint Augustine approved a plan submitted by Rev.

25, 1925, into an Irish Catholic family in New York and grew up in Queens and Flushing.

1, 1939, The Florida Catholic newspaper began publishing on a regular basis with its editorial offices located in Miami.

In 1942, The Florida Catholic newspaper offices were moved to St Augustine.

Contrary to Archbishop Hurley’s recommendations, Miami was chosen instead of the Tampa Bay area and the new diocese was created in south Florida in 1958.

They remained there until 1965 when the offices were moved to Orlando under the direction of Father David Page.

On June 17, 1968, the Catholic Diocese of St Petersburg was formally established with Bishop Charles B. McLaughlin as its first and founding bishop.

Construction of the new Spanish Mission-style church began in 1973 and took four years to complete.

In 1976, Pope Paul IV raised the status of the church once again to minor basilica after the Blessed Sacrament Chapel was added in a renovation ten years previously.

In 1978 he helped form the Interfaith Council of Jacksonville, which has promoted racial harmony, supported gun buybacks in crime-ridden neighborhoods, tutored at-risk students and instituted a model for disaster relief after Hurricane Hugo.

Monsignor W. Thomas Larkin, the Vicar General of the diocese and interim diocesan administrator, was appointed the Second Bishop of St Petersburg on April 17, 1979.

In the summer of 1984, one of two new Florida dioceses were created.

Bishop Larkin announced his retirement for health reasons in November 1988.

Bishop John Clement Favalora, a native of New Orleans and former Bishop of Alexandria, Louisiana, was installed as the Third Bishop of St Petersburg on May 16, 1989.

In 1990, the Archdiocese of Miami joined The Florida Catholic newspaper family.

The St Augustine Catholic magazine was launched by Bishop John J. Snyder with its first edition in September 1991.

Bishop Favalora closed the Jubilee Year with a solemn Pontifical Liturgy at the Cathedral of St Jude the Apostle on April 17, 1994.

Bishop Lynch was consecrated bishop in the Cathedral of St Jude the Apostle on January 26, 1996, by his predecessor Archbishop John C. Favalora.

Rebel Bishop: Augustin Verot, Florida’s Civil War Prelate by Michael V. Gannon, Ph.D.,University of Florida Press – Gainesville; Reprint edition, 1997.

The radio program, Common Ground, served as evangelization outreach to the mainstream of the community and was hosted by Kathleen Bagg, director of Communications until 1999.

In preparation for the great Jubilee Year, Bishop Lynch endorsed the Renew 2000 program in the local parishes as well as encouraged development of small Christian faith-sharing communities.

Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School was completed in north Pasco County in August 2003.

In February 2006, Bishop Victor Galeone took a bold financial step and increased the frequency of the St Augustine Catholic from six issues to 10 issues a year and began mailing the publication to every registered Catholic household – about 56,000 homes in the 17-county area of the diocese.

Fulfilling a dream for a retreat center which he helped to design, Bishop Lynch opened the Bethany Retreat Center in Lutz in May 2007.

His Irish sense of humor remained with him even as he lay dying, said Estevez, who was installed as bishop in 2011.