Abbot-Bishop Leo Haid (center) with visiting abbots at Abbatia Nullius celebration

On 8 June 1910, Belmont Abbey was raised to the rank of Abbatia Nullius Dioecesis and became the only Abbey in the United States to ever hold that rank. An Abbatia Nullius is outside the jurisdiction of any diocese and thus exists as its own diocese with the abbot enjoying the same dignity as a bishop and its church elevated to the rank of a cathedral. Eight counties in North Carolina were made part of the Abbatia Nullius territory which lasted until its suppresssion in 1977 (however the size of the territory was dimished periodically during its existence).