Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz

Diocese of Mainz Dioecesis Moguntinus Bistum Mainz
Mainz Cathedral
Location
Country	Germany
Ecclesiastical province	Freiburg
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Freiburg
Statistics
Area	7,692 km^2 (2,970 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2013) 2,886,854 754,441 (26.1%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	4th Century
Cathedral	Mainz Cathedral
Patron saint	St. Martin of Tours
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Sede vacante
Metropolitan Archbishop	Archbishop of Freiburg
Auxiliary Bishops	Udo Bentz
Emeritus Bishops	Karl Cardinal Lehmann Franziskus Eisenbach
Map
Website
bistum-mainz.de

The Diocese of Mainz is a diocese of the Catholic church in Germany, historically known in English by its French name of Mayence. It was created in 1802 with the abolition of the old Archbishopric of Mainz. The diocese is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Freiburg.^[1][2][3] Its district is located in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The seat of the diocese is in Mainz at the Cathedral dedicated to Saints Martin and Stephen.^[4] It is the only Roman Catholic diocese in the world which bears the title of a Holy See next to Rome.^[5]

Organizational structure

Bishop and cathedral chapter

Under Article 14 of the Reichskonkordat of 1933, which remains in force, the determination of the bishop to head the episcopal see and the composition of the chapter are governed by the provisions of Baden Concordat of 1932.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz comprises an area of 7692 square kilometers.^[6] It is divided into 20 deaneries, which in turn are divided into 136 pastoral care units. This parish associations or parish groups include all 335 parishes and other chaplaincies of the diocese (as of 2007).^[7] Pastoral units on the parish level have been introduced as a result of a profound structural change in the Catholic Church in Germany in many dioceses, the constitution of these units was determined by particular law [law of a particular region or territory], i.e., allowing for differences from one diocese to another. In the diocese of Mainz a parish group may be several parishes merged under the leadership of a single pastor. The parishes retain their church and state church legal personality. The pastor is attached to a pastoral team and a pastoral council. Parish associations, however, are combinations of several parishes, each with its own pastor. Several parish groups can join together to form a parochial associations.

Bishops of Mainz, 1802-present

• Joseph Ludwig Colmar 1802-1818
• Joseph Vitus Burg 1829-1833
• Johann Jakob Humann 1833-1834
• Petrus Leopold Kaiser 1834-1848
• Wilhelm Emmanuel Freiherr von Ketteler 1850-1877
• Paul Leopold Haffner 1886-1899
• Heinrich Brück 1900-1903
• Georg Heinrich Kirstein 1903-1921
• Ludwig Maria Hugo 1921-1935
• Albert Stohr 1935-1961
• Hermann Cardinal Volk 1962-1982
• Karl Cardinal Lehmann 1983-2016

Auxiliary bishops

• Hermann, O.F.M. (1405–1450)
• Hermann von Gehrden, O.P. (1432–1471)^[8]
• Sigfried Piscator, O.P. (1446–1455) and (1462–1473)^[9]
• Heinrich Hopfgarten, O.S.A. (1455–1460)^[10]
• Heinrich von Rübenach, O.P. (1457–1493)^[11]
• Johannes Schulte, O.S.A. (1466–1489)^[12]
• Berthold von Oberg, O.P. (1468–1489)^[13]
• Dionysius Part, O.P. (1474–1475)^[14]
• Matthias Emich, O. Carm. (1476–1480)^[15]
• Georg Fabri, O.P. (1490–1498)^[16]
• Erhard von Redwitz, O. Cist. (1494–1502)^[17]
• Johannes Bonemilch (1497–1508)^[18]
• Thomas Ruscher (1502–1510)^[19]
• Paul Huthen (1509–1532)^[20]
• Johannes Münster (1511–1537)^[21]
• Maternus Pistor (1534)^[22]
• Michael Helding (1538–1550)^[23]
• Georg Neumann (bishop) (1550–1551)
• Wolfgang Westermeyer (1551–1568)
• Balthasar Fannemann (Waneman) (1551–1561)
• Leonhard Zittardus, O.P. (1563–1569)
• Stephan Weber (1570–1622)
• Nikolaus Elgard (1577–1587)
• Valentin Mohr, O.S.B. (1606–1608)
• Cornelius Gobelius (1609–1611)
• Christoph Weber (1615–1633)
• Ambrosius Seibaeus (Seybeus) (1623–1644)
• Wolther Heinrich von Strevesdorff, O.E.S.A. (1634–1674)
• Berthold Nihus (1655–1657)
• Peter Walenburch (1658–1670)
• Johann Brassert (1674–1676)
• Adolph Gottfried Volusius (1676–1679)
• Johann Daniel von Gudenus (1680–1694)
• Matthias Starck (1681–1702)
• Johann Jakob Senfft (1695–1718)
• Johann Edmund Gedult von Jungenfeld (1703–1727)
• Johann Joachim Hahn (1718–1725)
• Christoph Ignaz von Gudenus (1726–1747)
• Caspar Adolph Schernauer (1728–Jun 1733)
• Christoph Nebel (1733–1769)
• Johann Friedrich von Lasser (1748–1769)
• Johann Georg Joseph von Eckart (1769–1792)
• Ludwig Philipp Behelm (1769–1777)
• August Franz von Strauß (Strauss) (1778–1782)
• Johann Valentin Heimes (1783–1806)
• Johann Maximilian von Haunold (1792–1807)
• Joseph Maria Reuß (Reuss) (1954–1978)
• Wolfgang Rolly (1972–2003)
• Franziskus Eisenbach (1988–2002)
• Werner Guballa (2003–2012)
• Ulrich Neymeyr (2003–2014)
• Udo Markus Bentz (2015–)

Education

Catholic Private Schools

Modern stainless steel sculpture of St. Martin in front of the Martinus School Mainz in the old town of Mainz

The most important educational institution of the Diocese is the Catholic University of Applied Sciences, Mainz. Besides the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz and the (arch)dioceses of Cologne, Limburg, Speyer and Trier belong to the initiators of this university . There are also other schools as the Edith-Stein-Schule in Darmstadt, Liebfrauenschule in Bensheim, the Episcopal Willigis-Gymnasium in Mainz, Abendgymnasium Ketteler of Mainz and the Episcopal College Willigis secondary school in Mainz.

Facilities at state universities

The diocese maintains three facilities at state universities. The most important of them is the Catholic Theological Faculty at the University of Mainz. In addition, there are at University of Giessen, the Institute for Catholic theology and their didactics, which is located at the Department of History and Cultural Studies. At the Technische Universität Darmstadt is an institute for theology and social ethics.

Bildungswerk der Diözese Mainz

The Bildungswerk der Diözese Mainz (educational works of the diocese of Mainz) promotes "... the church's adult education in the diocese from the parish to the diocesan level ..." The Bildungswerk is also a member of the Catholic Adult Education Hesse - Regional Working Group.

Other educational institutions

• Institut für Kirchenmusik Mainz: training institution for catholic Church musicians

Culture and sights

Major churches

Cathedral and Major basilicas

• Mainz Cathedral
• Worms Cathedral
• Basilica of St. Martin, Bingen
• Basilica of Sts. Marcellinus and Petrus, Seligenstadt
• Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Sts. Peter and Paul, Ilbenstadt

Other well-known churches

• St. Stephen's Church, Mainz with Chagall windows
• St. Ludwig, Darmstadt, dome of Neoclassicism
• Collegiate church, Pfaffen-Schwabenheim
• Church of Our Lady, Worms
• Chapel of St. Roch, Bingen

Perpetual liturgical calendar

Internal feasts of the diocese are:

• 5. January:John Neumann, Redemptorist priest and fourth Bishop of Philadelphia
• 4. February: Rabanus Maurus, Frankish Benedictine monk, archbishop of Mainz
• 14. February: Valentine of Terni, 3rd-century Christian martyr
• 23. February: Saint Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz and statesman of the Holy Roman Empire
• 27. April: Petrus Canisius, Jesuit priest who supported the Catholic faith during the Protestant Reformation in Germany
• 15. May: Rupert of Bingen, patron saint of pilgrims
• 2. June: Marcellinus and Peter, 4th-century Christian martyrs in Rome
• 5. June: Boniface, leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the German parts of the Frankish Empire.
• 10. June: Bardo of Mainz, presided over the Synod of Mainz in 1049 which denounced simony and priest marriage
• 21. June: Alban of Mainz, priest, missionary, and martyr.
• 27. June: Creszenz, Aureus, Theonest saints venerated by the Church of Mainz
• 4. July: anniversary of the consecration of Mainz cathedral
• 16. August: Rochus of Montpellier, Christian saint, confessor, specially invoked against the plague
• 6. September: Anniversary of the consecration of churches who do not know the day of their consecration
• 17. September: Hildegard of Bingen, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath.
• 28. September: Leoba, Anglo-Saxon nun who was part of Boniface's mission to the Germans
• 16. October: Lullus, first permanent archbishop of Mainz, succeeding Saint Boniface
• 26. October: Amandus of Straßburg, confessor, first bishop of Straßburg.
• 29. October: Ferrutius, Roman soldier, martyr in Mogontiacum
• 11. November: Martin of Tours, soldier, later Bishop of Tours
• 27. November: Bilihildis, Frankish noblewoman, founder and abbess of the monastery of Altmünster near Mainz

Literature

• Stefan Burkhardt, Mit Stab und Schwert. Bilder, Träger und Funktionen erzbischöflicher Herrschaft zur Zeit Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossas. Die Erzbistümer Köln und Mainz im Vergleich. Thorbecke, Ostfildern, 2008
• Friedhelm Jürgensmeier: Das Bistum Mainz. Von der Römerzeit bis zum II. Vatikanischen Konzil, Knecht Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1988, ISBN 3-7820-0570-8
• Hans Werner Nopper, Die vorbonifatianischen Mainzer Bischöfe. Mülheim, 2001
• Franz Usinger, Das Bistum Mainz unter französischer Herrschaft (1798-1814). Falk, Mainz, 1911

References

1. website of the Archdiocese of Freiburg
2. "Diocese of Mainz" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016
3. "Diocese of Mainz" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
4. gcatholic.org
5. "Radio Vatikan: Frag den Pater : Es antwortet Pater Bernd Hagenkord SJ". Archived from the original on 2011-12-04. Retrieved 2011-12-04. „Bis heute wird der Bischofssitz von Mainz als „Heiliger Stuhl“ Sancta sedes Moguntia bezeichnet.“
6. Schematismus der Diözese Mainz 2007, p. 103
7. Schematismus der Diözese Mainz 2007
8. "Bishop Hermann von Gehrden, O.P." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 30, 2016
9. "Bishop Sigfried Piscator, O.P." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 30, 2016
10. "Bishop Heinrich Hopfgarten, O.S.A." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 30, 2016
11. "Bishop Heinrich von Rübenach, O.P." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 30, 2016
12. "Bishop Johannes Schulte, O.S.A." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 29, 2016
13. "Bishop Berthold von Oberg, O.P." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 30, 2016
14. "Bishop Dionysius (Denys) Part, O.P." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 1, 2016
15. "Bishop Matthias Emich, O. Carm." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 1, 2016
16. "Bishop Georg Fabri, O.P." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 3, 2016
17. "Bishop Erhard von Redwitz, O. Cist." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 3, 2016
18. "Bishop Johannes Bonemilch" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 3, 2016
19. "Bishop Thomas Ruscher" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 3, 2016
20. "Bishop Paul Huthen" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 3, 2016
21. "Bishop Johannes Münster" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 3, 2016
22. "Bishop Maternus Pistor" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 5, 2016
23. "Bishop Michael Helding" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 5, 2016

External links

•  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Mainz". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.