Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock is a Roman Catholic diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of Oklahoma City located in the US state of Arkansas. It was established on November 28, 1843. The seat of the diocese is the Cathedral of St. Andrew.

In 1820 Bishop Louis William Valentine Dubourg visited the Osage Indians and, after him, Father Croix. Under Bishop Rosati, the Lazarists, from their seminary at the Barrens, Missouri, did praiseworthy missionary work from 1824 to 30 among the Indians and scattered settlers. The most noted secular priest of these times was Rev. Richard Bole, who established St. Mary's Mission, five miles below the present Pine Bluff, and brought there in 1838, from St. Geneviève, Missouri, five Sisters of Loretto, who opened the first Catholic school in Arkansas. The State of Arkansas and the Indian Territory, parts of the Louisiana Purchase, were formed in 1843, into the Diocese of Little Rock. Rev. Andrew Byrne, pastor of St. Andrew Church , was consecrated the first bishop, March 10, 1844.

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