The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany () covers 13 counties in Eastern New York (Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren, and Washington Counties), including a portion of a 14th county (southern Herkimer County, New York). Its Mother Church is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the city of Albany. History When St. Mary's Church was formally established in downtown Albany in 1796, it was the only Catholic church upstate and the second Catholic church in the state, after St. Peter's in New York. The parish was part of the Diocese of Baltimore, until 1808 when the Diocese of New York was erected. In 1817, Irish immigrants began coming to Albany to build the Erie Canal. The industry that grew around the canal terminus attracted even more immigrants, and the Catholics among them began settling not just in Albany but elsewhere in the Capital District and Mohawk Valley, establishing new churches. Immigration from Ireland rose even more in the 1840s due to the Great Famine. By 1847, the Catholic Church and its congregations were well entrenched in Albany and the other cities of the region, and Pope Pius IX granted requests to establish the Diocese of Albany. John McCloskey, later Archbishop of New York, was installed as the first bishop of Albany in 1847, with St. Mary's as his procathedral. At that time, the diocese covered , containing 60,000 Catholics, 25 churches, 34 priests, 2 orphanages, and 2 free schools. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was dedicated in 1852, and it opened for services thereafter. On the 50th anniversary of the cathedral's opening, it was formally consecrated by Bishop Thomas Burke. McCloskey was succeeded by his vicar general, John J. Conroy who increased the number of priests in the diocese, securing the services of the Augustinians and the Conventual Franciscans. His successor, Francis McNeirny secured the services of the Dominican Tertiaries, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, and Redemptorist Fathers for the diocese. Bishop Thomas Cusack established Catholic Charities in the diocese. Edmund Gibbons established The College of Saint Rose, Siena College, Mater Christi Seminary, 22 high schools, 82 grade schools, and the diocesan newspaper, The Evangelist. William Scully headed the New York State Catholic Welfare Committee and the Catholic Charities division of the National Catholic Welfare Council. Howard Hubbard became Bishop of Albany in 1977. Hubbard is the first native of the diocese