The first Catholics who traveled to Kentucky settled at Harrodsburg in 1775, and it was not until ten years later, in 1785, that Basil Hayden led the first colony of Catholics into Kentucky and established the Pottinger Creek settlement. In 1791, under the leadership of Reverend William DeRohan, who had come with a group from North Carolina, the Pottinger Creek Catholics built a chapel which was the first Catholic place of worship in Kentucky.

Reverend Stephen Badin, the first priest ordained in the United States, arrived in Kentucky from Baltimore in 1793 and directed Catholic life until 1808, when the Diocese of Bardstown was erected with Reverend Benedict Flaget appointed as the first Bishop. After a great deal of resistance, Flaget was consecrated by Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore on November 4, 1810. Accompanied by recruits Simon Brute, Guy Chabrat and John B. M. David, Flaget traveled to Bardstown and was installed on June 9, 1811.

Two orders of religious women, the Sisters of Loretto and the Sisters of Charity, were founded in 1812 and staffed schools, orphanages, and hospitals. In 1823 the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine were formed and grew to staff hospitals, a college, and grade andhigh schools. These are only a few examples of the growing number of religious congregations in the diocese and the services they performed.

Flaget called the first diocesan synod in February 1812. At this time a dispute over Church lands began between Badin and Flaget. Flaget wanted Badin, who held title to practically all of the land through his own purchase, to turn all title over to him, with no conditions. Canon law was not clear on this matter, and the land question was not legally settled until transfer was made by Badin in his will.

Flaget served as Bishop for forty years, and among his many accomplishments was the building of the St. Joseph's Cathedral in Bardstown in 1819; the first Cathedral west of the Alleghenies. In 1841 the see was removed from Bardstown to Louisville after petitioning of Rome by Flaget. In 1848 he consecrated Martin J. Spalding coadjutor bishop, and in 1849 the cornerstone of the new Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville was blessed. Spalding became the second Bishop of Louisville when Flaget died in February of 1850.

Under Spalding's leadership, institutions and parishes grew in number, although the United States Civil War caused much disruption. In June 1864, Spalding was transferred to the see of Baltimore. His brother and vicar-general, Benedict J. Spalding, served as administrator until Peter Joseph Lavialle was consecrated on September 24, 1865. Lavialle's tenure was not long due to his death on May 11, 1867.

William George McCloskey, the rector of the American College in Rome, was appointed Bishop of Louisville to succeed Lavialle on March 3, 1868 and was consecrated in Rome on May 24, 1868. McCloskey's forty-one year episcopate was marred by many disputes with both institutions and religious orders, and as a result many left the diocese. Conversely, other orders came to the diocese, and McCloskey's tenure is considered one of Catholic advancement in the diocese.

Denis O'Donaghue was selected as Bishop after McCloskey's death in 1909 and wasenthroned in March 1910. He continued the trend of advancement in the diocese, but due to his poor health he resigned in 1924. John A. Floersh succeeded to the see in July 1924 and became its first Archbishop in 1937 when Louisville was made a metropolitan see. A suffragan see, Owensboro, was created out of the western counties of Kentucky.

Floersh served as Archbishop until 1967 when Thomas McDonough was appointed to succeed him, and since 1981 the Archbishop has been Thomas C. Kelly. The province of Louisville includes the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, with suffragan bishops in the sees of Covington and Owensboro, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee.

[Sources for historical sketch include: "Louisville, Archdiocese of", by J. H. Schauinger, New Catholic Encyclopedia, McGraw-Hill Book Company: New York, Vol. VIII, pp.1028-1031 and An American Holy Land: A History of the Archdiocese of Louisville, by Clyde F. Crews, Michael Glazier, Inc.: Wilmington, Delaware, 1987.]