Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle is a Roman Catholic diocese of the Latin Rite centred around St Mary's Cathedral in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in England. The diocese is one of the six suffragan sees in the ecclesiastical Province of Liverpool and covers much of North-East England.History and FormationThe Diocese of Hexham was revived in 1850 by decree of Pope Pius IX, restoring the Catholic hierarchy to England and Wales. Although the ancient See of Hexham was founded in 678 it had later lapsed. Together with the See of Lindisfarne, founded by Saint Aidan, Hexham formed the main part of the Northumbrian kingdom's ecclesiastical structure. Among the early bishops elected to the see in 684 was Saint Cuthbert, the present-day patron of the modern diocese, and, later, Acca of Hexham.The modern diocese was expanded to include the title of Newcastle in 1861. The Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, originally under the metropolitan See of Westminster, became part of the new Province of Liverpool (often referred to as the 'Northern Province') in 1911.
