Its official beginnings came during its establishment as a Prelature Nullius on December 17, 1949, having the Archdiocese of Cebu as its Metropolitan. It was elevated into a diocese on July 11, 1966, and eventually became an archdiocese on June 29, 1970,[3] taking as its titular patron saint Peter the Apostle whose feast day is celebrated also on June 29.
The official name given to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction is "Archidioecesis Davaensis" and San Pedro Cathedral Parish as the seat of the archbishop.
On December 29, 1954, Clovis Thibault was appointed prelate of the prelature of Davao.[4] He was a priest of the Foreign Mission Society of Quebec. He became the first bishop and archbishop when the prelature was elevated into a diocese and later into an archdiocese. Antonio Lloren Mabutas, a native of Agoo, La Union, succeeded him on December 9, 1972.[5] He was then succeeded by Fernando Capalla who first became Coadjutor Archbishop on June 28, 1994, and became its archbishop on November 6, 1996.[6] The current archbishop of Davao is Romulo Valles, who was appointed in 2012.