For the first decades of its existence the Catholic Church in Prince Edward Island was part of the Diocese of Quebec and governed by its Bishop. The first division of the See was in 1817 when the province of Nova Scotia was raised to a Vicariate Apostolic. In 1819, at the urging of Bishop Plessis, the Diocese of Quebec was further divided into four areas, one of which comprised New Brunswick, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. Episcopal jurisdiction however remained with the Bishop of Quebec. The Rt. Rev. Angus Bernard MacEachern who had already given arduous service for many years as a missionary priest in PEI and Cape Breton was appointed Bishop of Rosen over the new district. On 11 August 1829 Charlottetown was raised to the dignity of an independant Episcopal See with MacEachern as its Bishop. Cape Breton had been annexed to the Nova Scotia see. Following MacEachern's death in 1835 he was succeeded in office by Rev. Bernard Donald MacDonald. In 1842 New Brunswick was made a separate diocese by the creation of an episcopal see in St. John's.