BELIZE CITY & BELMOPAN
By Charles Woods, Sr.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Belize was established in 1956 with the appointment of Most Rev. David Francis Hickey, S.J. as first Bishop of Belize. With the dedication of the new capital Belmopan in 1970 the diocese’s name was expanded to “The Diocese of Belize City and Belmopan” with each city having a co-cathedral.
Prior to the establishment of the Diocese, the church functioned as a mission church under foreign jurisdictions starting in 1851 with the first resident priests who came from the vicariate of Jamaica, which itself was mission territory. Earlier, in 1837, the pastoral care of Belize (British Honduras, or the settlement of Belize in the Bay of Honduras) had been assigned by the Holy See in Rome to Jamaica. Virtually nothing was done, however, by Jamaica about Belize for want of manpower, finances, knowledge about the people, and the difficulties of travel in those days.
The coming to Belize of waves of Catholic refugees from the Caste War of Yucatan during 1847-1855 changed the situation dramatically. The lay leaders of some of the refugees who had settled in Belize City forced themselves upon the attention of the church authorities in Jamaica. A fact-finding mission was accordingly sent to Belize in late 1851 headed by Dom Benito Fernandez, a Franciscan priest who was the Vicar Apostolic of Jamaica; he was accompanied by Fr. Joseph Du Pont, S.J.
As a result of the exploratory visit, Fr. Eustace du Peyron, S.J. from Jamaica was instructed to get a church, rectory, and school constructed. This was started in Belize City, Holy Redeemer Parish (1852) from which mission stations and eventually parishes evolved in Corozal (1859), Punta Gorda (1862), Stann Creek (1867), Benque Viejo del Carmen (1905), and San Ignacio (1909).
The church in Belize fell under the care of the English Province of the Society of Jesus which had taken charge of the Vicariate of Jamaica. As the church became more firmly rooted in Belize and communications with Jamaica deteriorated when the monthly steamship service between the two countries ceased, it became necessary to give the Belize mission a degree of independence from the church in Jamaica.
In 1888 the Catholic mission in Belize was formally detached from the Vicariate of Jamaica by the naming of Superior Fr. Salvatore Di Pietro, S.J. to head the new Prefecture Apostolic of Belize. Fr. Di Pietro had already been given certain episcopal faculties, such as to conduct confirmations. In 1893 at the request of the English Province of the Jesuits and the laity in Belize, who pledged their financial support for a bishop of their own, the Belize Mission was raised to the status of a full Vicariate with its first Bishop, Salvatore Di Pietro, S.J.
The country of Belize by this time had already started to develop close relationships with the United States of America through the weekly steam ship services of the United Fruit Company operating from that country’s southern Gulf port of New Orleans. Not only Belize’s bananas, chicle, and other products found their way to New Orleans, but Belizeans themselves traversed the route for business, higher education, and a host of other reasons. It is not surprising, therefore, that the three bishops who came to officiate at the consecration of Fr. Di Pietro as Bishop of Eurea and first Vicar Apostolic of the Belize mission, came from southern American dioceses of Savannah in the state of Georgia, Mobile in the state of Alabama, and Natchez in the state of Mississippi. Bishop LeRoy of New Orleans had already visited Belize in 1886 on the occasion of the blessing of the new convent and academy of the Sisters of Mercy, who themselves came from their mother house in New Orleans in 1883 at the request of Fr. Di Pietro.
The stage was now set for the next far-reaching development in the Belize mission. One year after Bishop Di Pietro’s consecration, the mission was separated from the English Province of the Jesuits and passed over to the American Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus in 1894.
The coming of the American Jesuits afforded more manpower, resources, and better communications, factors which the English Jesuits had been hard pressed to provide. The last act of Bishop Di Pietro before he died in 1898 was to secure the coming of the Sisters of the Holy Family from New Orleans who arrived in that same year and placed their labors in the Stann Creek District. Through the efforts of Fr. Anthony Versavel, S.J., the resident priest in Benque Viejo, the Pallottine nuns arrived in 1913 and soon had established themselves in Cayo, Corozal, Orange Walk and Toledo.
Bishop Frederick Hopkins, S.J., the last of the English Jesuits in Belize, succeeded Bishop Di Pietro in 1898 as Vicar Apostolic. Bishop Hopkins drowned in a tragic accident in the Corozal Bay in 1923. He was succeeded by Bishop Joseph Murphy, S.J. who retired in 1938. Bishop William A. Rice, S.J., followed and he died of a heart attack in 1946. Next came the last Vicar Apostolic of Belize, David Francis Hickey, S.J., who had served as a priest in the mission since 1926. The new Vicar Apostolic took up the office of Bishop in 1948.
It was becoming evident that the mission church in Belize was outgrowing its status as a Vicariate. Belizean men were entering the priesthood and for many years now numerous Belizean women had entered the three religious orders of women teaching in schools and performing other apostolic works in Belize. The faith was well established and strong, nurtured to a great degree by the extensive school system throughout the country. Catholic lay people were bringing to the public the social teachings of the church and even initiating Christian social movements.
Though the economy of Belize remained weak and the church still had to rely on overseas aid, the decision was taken following the visit of Papal Nuncio Raimondi in 1956 to raise the status of the church to that of a diocese. Thus in 1956 Most Rev. David Francis Hickey, S.J., ceased to be Vicar Apostolic and became the first Bishop of the new Diocese of Belize. The Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus continued to provide the bulk of priests along with Belizean diocesan priests now coming on stream and it continued to aid the diocese wherever possible.
In 1958 Fr. Robert L. Hodapp, S.J., was appointed Bishop after the resignation of Bishop Hickey in 1957. The long episcopate of Bishop Hodapp (1958-1983) saw many new developments in the Diocese: the expansion of schools, the beginning of greater involvement of the laity in the liturgical and apostolic life of the church following Vatican II recommendations, encouragement of more Belizean priests, and the appointment (1982) of the first Auxiliary Bishop, Most Rev. Osmond Peter Martin (a Belizean Diocesan priest).
In 1984, Bishop Martin succeeded Bishop Hodapp who had retired. Under Bishop Martin, the Diocese took on more and more a Belizean flavor with greater self-reliance. In 1989 Bishop Martin summoned the first-ever Synod in the Diocese from which many decisions and recommendations were made in consultation with all the clergy and representatives of each parish. Many apostolic ministries were formalized, staffed, and funded.
One striking achievement of the diocese under Bishop Martin is the construction of village churches, replacing old structures and in most cases erecting churches where none had existed before. This has been done through the extraordinary effort of pastors, most generous supply of funds by Adveniat in Germany, self-help by laity, aid from the diocese and quite recently aid from the Diocese of Derry in Ireland. At the invitation of the Diocese, new religious orders of men and women have come in recent years to assist in the pastoral work of the Diocese: the Benedictine Monks (Santa Familia, Cayo), the Columban Fathers (1986-1996), the Viatorians (Corozal), the Claretians (Stann Creek), the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (Benque Viejo), the Spanish-speaking priests (Fraternidad Misionaria de Maria) working mainly in the refugee villages of Cayo, the Spanish-speaking Mexican nuns (Missionary Daughters of Our Lady of the Light who work in Orange Walk villages), and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth who work out of Belize City. In addition, a few secular priests from abroad have joined the Diocese. In April 2001, Bishop Martin inaugurated the Monsignor Facundo Castillo Diocesan Center in Belize City next to Holy Redeemer Cathedral. In many respects this imposing seat of the Diocese symbolizes that the Diocese has come of age, so to speak. The voice of the Diocese goes out from here through radio, television, and the monthly Christian Herald newspaper.[1]
During the Sesquicentennial Year of celebration, the Diocese welcomed its second Auxiliary Bishop, Belizean born Monsignor Dorick Wright, who was consecrated Bishop on April 4, 2002. In 2007 the Most Rev. Dorick Wright, D.D. assumed office upon the retirement of Bishop Martin after nearly 23 years of service as Bishop to the faithful of Belize. On 5 May 2012, the Most Rev. Christopher Glancy, C.S.V., D.D., was consecrated a Bishop to serve as an Auxiliary to Bishop Wright. Due to health reasons Bishop Dorick Wright retired on January 26, 2017. He later died on April 15, 2020.
Most Rev. Bishop Lawrence Sydney Nicasio, D.D. was ordained Bishop and assumed office on May 13, 2017. Bishop Nicasio was born in Dangriga on September 5, 1956. He was a bishop for 6.6 years and died on January 1, 2024, of health complications.
[1] Radio and Television services are no longer provided by the Diocese. A new Diocesan Communications Center offers modern services such as social media, podcast, a webpage etc..
By Charles Woods, Sr.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Belize was established in 1956 with the appointment of Most Rev. David Francis Hickey, S.J. as first Bishop of Belize. With the dedication of the new capital Belmopan in 1970 the diocese’s name was expanded to “The Diocese of Belize City and Belmopan” with each city having a co-cathedral.
Prior to the establishment of the Diocese, the church functioned as a mission church under foreign jurisdictions starting in 1851 with the first resident priests who came from the vicariate of Jamaica, which itself was mission territory. Earlier, in 1837, the pastoral care of Belize (British Honduras, or the settlement of Belize in the Bay of Honduras) had been assigned by the Holy See in Rome to Jamaica. Virtually nothing was done, however, by Jamaica about Belize for want of manpower, finances, knowledge about the people, and the difficulties of travel in those days.
The coming to Belize of waves of Catholic refugees from the Caste War of Yucatan during 1847-1855 changed the situation dramatically. The lay leaders of some of the refugees who had settled in Belize City forced themselves upon the attention of the church authorities in Jamaica. A fact-finding mission was accordingly sent to Belize in late 1851 headed by Dom Benito Fernandez, a Franciscan priest who was the Vicar Apostolic of Jamaica; he was accompanied by Fr. Joseph Du Pont, S.J.
As a result of the exploratory visit, Fr. Eustace du Peyron, S.J. from Jamaica was instructed to get a church, rectory, and school constructed. This was started in Belize City, Holy Redeemer Parish (1852) from which mission stations and eventually parishes evolved in Corozal (1859), Punta Gorda (1862), Stann Creek (1867), Benque Viejo del Carmen (1905), and San Ignacio (1909).
The church in Belize fell under the care of the English Province of the Society of Jesus which had taken charge of the Vicariate of Jamaica. As the church became more firmly rooted in Belize and communications with Jamaica deteriorated when the monthly steamship service between the two countries ceased, it became necessary to give the Belize mission a degree of independence from the church in Jamaica.
In 1888 the Catholic mission in Belize was formally detached from the Vicariate of Jamaica by the naming of Superior Fr. Salvatore Di Pietro, S.J. to head the new Prefecture Apostolic of Belize. Fr. Di Pietro had already been given certain episcopal faculties, such as to conduct confirmations. In 1893 at the request of the English Province of the Jesuits and the laity in Belize, who pledged their financial support for a bishop of their own, the Belize Mission was raised to the status of a full Vicariate with its first Bishop, Salvatore Di Pietro, S.J.
The country of Belize by this time had already started to develop close relationships with the United States of America through the weekly steam ship services of the United Fruit Company operating from that country’s southern Gulf port of New Orleans. Not only Belize’s bananas, chicle, and other products found their way to New Orleans, but Belizeans themselves traversed the route for business, higher education, and a host of other reasons. It is not surprising, therefore, that the three bishops who came to officiate at the consecration of Fr. Di Pietro as Bishop of Eurea and first Vicar Apostolic of the Belize mission, came from southern American dioceses of Savannah in the state of Georgia, Mobile in the state of Alabama, and Natchez in the state of Mississippi. Bishop LeRoy of New Orleans had already visited Belize in 1886 on the occasion of the blessing of the new convent and academy of the Sisters of Mercy, who themselves came from their mother house in New Orleans in 1883 at the request of Fr. Di Pietro.
The stage was now set for the next far-reaching development in the Belize mission. One year after Bishop Di Pietro’s consecration, the mission was separated from the English Province of the Jesuits and passed over to the American Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus in 1894.
The coming of the American Jesuits afforded more manpower, resources, and better communications, factors which the English Jesuits had been hard pressed to provide. The last act of Bishop Di Pietro before he died in 1898 was to secure the coming of the Sisters of the Holy Family from New Orleans who arrived in that same year and placed their labors in the Stann Creek District. Through the efforts of Fr. Anthony Versavel, S.J., the resident priest in Benque Viejo, the Pallottine nuns arrived in 1913 and soon had established themselves in Cayo, Corozal, Orange Walk and Toledo.
Bishop Frederick Hopkins, S.J., the last of the English Jesuits in Belize, succeeded Bishop Di Pietro in 1898 as Vicar Apostolic. Bishop Hopkins drowned in a tragic accident in the Corozal Bay in 1923. He was succeeded by Bishop Joseph Murphy, S.J. who retired in 1938. Bishop William A. Rice, S.J., followed and he died of a heart attack in 1946. Next came the last Vicar Apostolic of Belize, David Francis Hickey, S.J., who had served as a priest in the mission since 1926. The new Vicar Apostolic took up the office of Bishop in 1948.
It was becoming evident that the mission church in Belize was outgrowing its status as a Vicariate. Belizean men were entering the priesthood and for many years now numerous Belizean women had entered the three religious orders of women teaching in schools and performing other apostolic works in Belize. The faith was well established and strong, nurtured to a great degree by the extensive school system throughout the country. Catholic lay people were bringing to the public the social teachings of the church and even initiating Christian social movements.
Though the economy of Belize remained weak and the church still had to rely on overseas aid, the decision was taken following the visit of Papal Nuncio Raimondi in 1956 to raise the status of the church to that of a diocese. Thus in 1956 Most Rev. David Francis Hickey, S.J., ceased to be Vicar Apostolic and became the first Bishop of the new Diocese of Belize. The Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus continued to provide the bulk of priests along with Belizean diocesan priests now coming on stream and it continued to aid the diocese wherever possible.
In 1958 Fr. Robert L. Hodapp, S.J., was appointed Bishop after the resignation of Bishop Hickey in 1957. The long episcopate of Bishop Hodapp (1958-1983) saw many new developments in the Diocese: the expansion of schools, the beginning of greater involvement of the laity in the liturgical and apostolic life of the church following Vatican II recommendations, encouragement of more Belizean priests, and the appointment (1982) of the first Auxiliary Bishop, Most Rev. Osmond Peter Martin (a Belizean Diocesan priest).
In 1984, Bishop Martin succeeded Bishop Hodapp who had retired. Under Bishop Martin, the Diocese took on more and more a Belizean flavor with greater self-reliance. In 1989 Bishop Martin summoned the first-ever Synod in the Diocese from which many decisions and recommendations were made in consultation with all the clergy and representatives of each parish. Many apostolic ministries were formalized, staffed, and funded.
One striking achievement of the diocese under Bishop Martin is the construction of village churches, replacing old structures and in most cases erecting churches where none had existed before. This has been done through the extraordinary effort of pastors, most generous supply of funds by Adveniat in Germany, self-help by laity, aid from the diocese and quite recently aid from the Diocese of Derry in Ireland. At the invitation of the Diocese, new religious orders of men and women have come in recent years to assist in the pastoral work of the Diocese: the Benedictine Monks (Santa Familia, Cayo), the Columban Fathers (1986-1996), the Viatorians (Corozal), the Claretians (Stann Creek), the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (Benque Viejo), the Spanish-speaking priests (Fraternidad Misionaria de Maria) working mainly in the refugee villages of Cayo, the Spanish-speaking Mexican nuns (Missionary Daughters of Our Lady of the Light who work in Orange Walk villages), and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth who work out of Belize City. In addition, a few secular priests from abroad have joined the Diocese. In April 2001, Bishop Martin inaugurated the Monsignor Facundo Castillo Diocesan Center in Belize City next to Holy Redeemer Cathedral. In many respects this imposing seat of the Diocese symbolizes that the Diocese has come of age, so to speak. The voice of the Diocese goes out from here through radio, television, and the monthly Christian Herald newspaper.[1]
During the Sesquicentennial Year of celebration, the Diocese welcomed its second Auxiliary Bishop, Belizean born Monsignor Dorick Wright, who was consecrated Bishop on April 4, 2002. In 2007 the Most Rev. Dorick Wright, D.D. assumed office upon the retirement of Bishop Martin after nearly 23 years of service as Bishop to the faithful of Belize. On 5 May 2012, the Most Rev. Christopher Glancy, C.S.V., D.D., was consecrated a Bishop to serve as an Auxiliary to Bishop Wright. Due to health reasons Bishop Dorick Wright retired on January 26, 2017. He later died on April 15, 2020.
Most Rev. Bishop Lawrence Sydney Nicasio, D.D. was ordained Bishop and assumed office on May 13, 2017. Bishop Nicasio was born in Dangriga on September 5, 1956. He was a bishop for 6.6 years and died on January 1, 2024, of health complications.
[1] Radio and Television services are no longer provided by the Diocese. A new Diocesan Communications Center offers modern services such as social media, podcast, a webpage etc..