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The Diocese of Springfield

logo for the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield

There are currently more than 5,000 total baptized members worshiping in 37 congregations (including the Chapel of Saint John the Divine) in the Diocese of Springfield. The diocese encompasses 60 counties and includes the area east of the Illinois River and south of the Counties of Woodford, Livingston, Ford, and Iroquois. The diocese was founded when the former Episcopal Diocese of Illinois split into three separate Dioceses (Springfield, Quincy, and Chicago) in 1877. Composed of both rural and urban parishes and missions, the Cathedral of St. Paul and the diocesan offices sit in Springfield, Illinois, after which the diocese is named.
In December of 1877, the Very Rev. George Franklin Seymour, Dean of General Theological Seminary, New York, was elected the first Bishop of Springfield on the first ballot. The Sixth Bishop of Springfield, the Right Reverend Daniel Martins, was ordained March 19, 2011. Bishop Martins is the chief pastor of the parishes in the Diocese of Springfield and he visits the Chapel frequently.

The Diocese of Springfield is one church…

  • organized for mission into geographic parishes,
  • manifested in eucharistic communities and communities-in-formation,
  • with a goal of being concretely incarnate in all of the 60 counties of central and southern Illinois.