Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo

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Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo
Location
Country Syria
Statistics
Parishes10
Members13,000
Information
RiteLatin Rite
Established27 June 1762
CathedralChild Jesus
Secular priests36
Current leadership
BishopHanna Jallouf
Apostolic AdministratorRaimondo Girgis
Bishops emeritusGeorges Abou Khazen
Former Latin Cathedral of Aleppo, dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi.

The Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo (in Latin: Vicariatus Apostolicus Aleppensis) is an

Roman Catholic Church, entitled to a titular bishop) and is immediately subject to the Holy See and its missionary Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.[1]

The seat of the vicariate is the city of

St. Francis of Assisi, in Aleppo, Syria's greatest city before the civil war. It is currently ruled by the bishop Georges Abou Khazen
, O.F.M.

Together with the Eastern Catholic hierarchs of five rite-specific Catholic churches (Melkite, Syriac, Maronite, Chaldean and Armenian) the Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo is part of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in Syria (A.H.C.S.). The Apostolic Vicar is also a member of the Conference of the Latin Bishops of the Arab Regions.

Statistics

The Apostolic Vicariate extends its jurisdiction over the Catholics of the Latin Rite of all Syria, as per 2014 pastorally serving 13,000 Catholics in 10 parishes and 6 missions with 38 priests (religious) and 243 lay religious (46 brothers, 197 sisters).

History

From the early decades of the seventeenth century some religious orders, particularly the

Society of Jesus, settled in Syria and Aleppo. There were several conversions to Catholicism of the Latin rite, and this led Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
to establish a diocese in Aleppo.

A first attempt to build an

Custodian of the Holy Land
(traditionally a Franciscan), as it was previously.

The Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo was erected properly (the 'second' time) on 27 June 1762, when

, which, among other consequences, involved the removal of all French religious orders not only in motherland, but also in mission lands.

After the

Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples restored the apostolic vicariate in 1817, with the name of the Apostolic vicariate of Syria, Egypt, Arabia and Cyprus. It had jurisdiction over much of Catholic missions of the central and southern regions of the Ottoman Empire, namely : Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Palestine, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Abyssinia (then empire of Ethiopia including Eritrea) and Nubia (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and southernmost Egypt). Also included was the south-central part of Anatolia
, including the cities of Antioch (Antakya) and Alexandretta (Iskenderun).

On 1824.08.15 it lost Egyptian territory to establish the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria.

On 18 May 1839 it ceded part of its territory for the creation of the

Apostolic Prefecture of Abyssinia (today Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis Abeba
in the Ethiopian rite), and simultaneously took the name of the Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo.

On October 4, 1847, it ceded Palestine, Cyprus and the areas corresponding to (the current / (Trans)Jordan for the restoration of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

With the end of the Ottoman Empire, the birth of modern Turkey (1923) and especially with the passage of Hatay from Syria to Turkey (1938), under the Papal bull of Pope Pius XII Ad maius christifidelium of 5 October 1939 and Quo sacrorum of 9 December 1939, the Vicariate Apostolic of Aleppo lost the Turkish territories that passed to the Apostolic Vicariate of Istanbul.

On June 4, 1953, it gave another portion of territory for the creation of the Apostolic Vicariate of Beirut. From this moment the Vicariate Apostolic of Aleppo geographically corresponding to the Arab republic of Syria's territory. Only from this territorial change, the apostolic vicars have permanent residence in Aleppo, preferring previously reside in Lebanon.

Episcopal ordinaries

Until 2013, Europeans or members of missionary Latin congregations, mostly Franciscans, were ordinaries here. All have belonged to the Roman rite.

Apostolic Vicars of Aleppo
Apostolic Vicars of Syria, Egypt, Arabia and Cyprus
Apostolic Vicars of Aleppo

See also

  • List of Catholic dioceses in Syria

References

  1. ^ "Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
  2. ^ "Siria: il Cardinale Sandri consacra la Cattedrale latina di Aleppo | Patriarcato latino di Gerusalemme". it.lpj.org. Archived from the original on 2014-08-26.
  3. ^ Leonardus Lemmens, Hierarchia latina Orientis, mediante S. Congregatione de propaganda fide instituita (1622-1922), in Orientalia Christiana, vol. IV, n° 10 (1924), pp. 296-301
  4. ^ "Iuris pontificii de propaganda fide.: Pars prima, complectens bullas, brevia". Ex Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide. 1892.
  5. ^ "Archbishop Giovanni Battista Aresti de Dovara, O.F.M" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 21, 2016

Sources and external links