Roman Catholic Diocese of Liège

Coordinates: 50°38′15″N 5°34′20″E / 50.637412°N 5.572090°E / 50.637412; 5.572090
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Diocese of Liège

Dioecesis Leodiensis

Diocèse de Liège (French)
Bistum Lüttich (German)
Bisdom Luik (Dutch)
Coordinates
50°38′15″N 5°34′20″E / 50.637412°N 5.572090°E / 50.637412; 5.572090
Statistics
Area3,862 km2 (1,491 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics
(as of 2016)
1,092,226
731,000 (66.9%)
Information
DenominationCatholic Church
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
CathedralSt. Paul's Cathedral in Liège
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopJean-Pierre Delville
Metropolitan ArchbishopJozef De Kesel
Bishops emeritusAlbert Jean Charles Ghislain Houssiau, Bishop Emeritus (1986-2001)
Map
The Diocese of Liège, coextensive with the Liège Province
The Diocese of Liège, coextensive with the Liège Province
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Diocese of Liège (

Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. Its cathedra is found within St. Paul's Cathedral in the episcopal see of Liège
.

Origins of the diocese

Diocese of Liège
(in green) which evolved from the Civitas Tungrorum and probably had similar boundaries.

The original diocese was the church equivalent of the Civitas Tungrorum, the capital of which was Tongeren, northwest of Liège, and its borders were probably approximately the same.

The bishopric of Tongeren originally formed part of the dioceses of

Trier and Cologne. After the first half of the fourth century, the bishopric of Tongeren received autonomous organization. In late antiquity, the centre of administration and religion in the area moved first to Maastricht
, and then to Liège.

The boundaries were formed, to the North, by the diocese of

Germanic
populations. The boundaries remained virtually unchanged until 1559.

Legend has it that the first bishop of Tongeren was Saint Maternus. This may refer to the legendary founder of the

St Amandus (647–650) and St Remaclus (650–660) even abandoned the episcopal see in discouragement. Both built several monasteries. St Theodard
(660–669) died a martyr.

St. Lambert's Cathedral
) which became the nucleus of the city, and near which the permanent residence of the bishops was established.

Agilfrid (765–787)

Blessed Trinity. Ratherius absorbed all the learning of his time. Heraclius, who occupied the see in 959, built four new parish churches, a monastery, and two collegiate churches, he inaugurated in his diocese an era of great artistic activity known as Mosan art
.

All these bishops, until the end of the Middle Ages, continued to call themselves bishops of the church of Tongeren, or sometimes bishops of Tongeren-Maastricht or Tongeren-Liège, Tongeren in this case referring to the old civitas of Tongeren, rather than the town.

Modern History

The original dioceses of the region underwent some adaptations under Habsburg influence in 1559, and then survived further until suppression under the

itself, later merged with Cologne but still later restored). In 1818, it lost a certain number of cantons, ceded to Prussia
.

Saint Lambertus cathedral
during its destruction.
Saint Paul Cathedral
in Liège has been the bishopric's cathedral since 1801

After the establishment of the

Archdiocese of Mechlin–Brussels, consists of 525 parishes with 543 priests and has a population of 1,023,506 (as of 2003), the majority (Walloons) speaking French; the minority speaking German in the Eupen-Malmedy area, part of Germany until the fallout after World War I
.

Ordinaries

References

  1. ^ Eckenstein, Lina. Woman under Monasticism: Chapters on Saint-Lore and Convent Life between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1500, Cambridge University Press, 1896

External links