[5] Before and during the American Revolutionary War, the Catholics in all of the British colonies in America were under the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Vicariate of the London District in England.

Experiencing a shortage of priests in the diocese, England established in 1832 the Philosophical and Classical College and Seminary of Charleston.

In 1834, England recruited a small group of Ursuline nuns from the convent at Blackrock, Cork in Ireland to come to the diocese to teach and minister.

Pope Gregory XVI in 1843 appointed Monsignor Ignatius Reynolds from the Archdiocese of Baltimore to replace England as bishop of Charleston.

In addition, the artillery bombardment of Charleston by the Union Army for nearly two years during the American Civil War closed most of the churches and impoverished their congregations.

[12] The 1865 burning of Columbia by the Union Army destroyed St. Mary's College, the Sisters' Home, and the Ursuline Convent.

After Russell's death in 1927, Pope Pius XI appointed Reverend Emmet M. Walsh of the Diocese of Savannah as his successor.

[13][14] After appointing Walsh as coadjutor bishop for the Diocese of Youngstown in 1949, Pope Pius XII named John Russell of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1950 to succeed him in Charleston.

Recognized as one of the South's "foremost advocates of social and religious liberalism",[15] Hallinan became known for his personal dedication to the civil rights movement and the cause of racial equality.

"[17] However, Hallinan delayed full racial integration at Catholic institutions in the diocese out of fear for the safety of African American students.

[3] At the same time, the pope appointed Hallinan as the first archbishop of Atlanta and replaced him in Charleston with Monsignor Francis Reh of the Archdiocese of New York.

An active participant in the American civil rights movement, Unterkoefler worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and ended racial segregation in all Catholic institutions in the diocese.

[19] In 1989, Pope John Paul II appointed David B. Thompson of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to assist Unterkoefler as a coadjutor bishop.

Thompson retired as bishop in 1999; John Paul II replaced him with Reverend Robert Baker from the Diocese of St. Augustine.

Reverend Frederick J. Hopwood, a diocesan priest, pleaded guilty in 1994 to committing a lewd act upon a minor in return for a grant of immunity from prosecution for other sex abuse crimes.

[23] In 2007, Bishop Baker settled the existing sexual abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese, paying $12 million total to all victims with credible accusations who were born before 1980.

These plaintiffs, who had moved out of state after the abuse happened, faulted the diocese for not conducting a nationwide search for victims when they made the 2007 settlement.

[23] In March 2019, the diocese published the names of 42 diocesan clergy who were "credibly accused" of committing acts of sex abuse.

[25] In August 2019, a new report revealed that Bishop Guglielmone was being sued in New York for alleged sexual abuse in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

[27] Jeffrey Scofield, an employee of Bishop England High School on Daniel Island in Charleston, pleaded guilty in June 2020 to one count of voyeurism and received 18 months of probation.

[30] Ouellette had agreed to meet an underage youth for sex in Mount Pleasant, but arrived there to discover it was a police sting operation.

A Georgia attorney filed a $300 million class action lawsuit against the archdiocese and Bishop England High School in 2021.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of students, accused the defendants of negligence in originally installing windows on the girls and boys locker rooms, leaving the occupants potentially exposed for 20 years.

[30] Reverend Jamie Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, a visiting priest from Chile, pleaded guilty in August 2023 to transporting of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

[32] In January 2024, the Diocese of Charleston was sued by a second former altar boy who alleged by Kelly at St Andrew's Catholic Church from 1990 to 1994.